HACC Denies Confiscation of Tax Official Bendas’ Car

The High Anti-Corruption Court refused to confiscate the car of Natalia Bendas, head of the tax audit department of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Ivano-Frankivsk region, which is registered to her relative.

As is known, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit to confiscate the car of the head of the Department of the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in the Ivano-Frankivsk region Bednas. This is a BMW iX M60 car worth almost UAH 2.8 million, which is actually owned by the tax official's family, but which is registered to the husband of the official's niece. According to the investigation, in 2022, a relative of Bendas purchased a BMW iX M60 car worth UAH 2.77 million. Later, in Poland, he issued a power of attorney for the tax official's husband. In the future, only Bendas and her husband used the car.

To refuse to satisfy the claim of the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to recognize the assets as unfounded and to recover them to the state's revenue.

The court concluded that the prosecutor failed to provide factual evidence to support the connection between the car and Bendas and rejected the evidence provided by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. According to the court, Bendas's niece's husband is not a subject of declaration, and therefore the NACP could not conduct lifestyle monitoring in relation to him.

Let us remind you that Natalia Bendas is a figurehead of the EBK base.

We also previously reported that the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) revealed signs of illicit enrichment of one of the heads of the territorial service center of the RSC of the GSC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.