Former member of the Verkhovna Rada Law Enforcement Committee Ihor Mosiychuk is convinced that acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Yevhen Sokur staged an assassination attempt in order to avoid problems at work. The former MP expressed this opinion in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
"I am 99% convinced that yes, there is an organization of a self-assassination attempt. Or staging, it's easier to say. The goal is very simple: Sokur is having problems in the tax office, and Sokur wants to avoid them," Mosiychuk said.
At the same time, the former MP notes that in addition to the criminal proceedings, Acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Yevhen Sokur also has problems with exposing the scheme with excise taxes on alcohol and tax invoices. He also reminded of the situation in Khmelnytsky region with the dismissal of the head of the tax office due to his unwillingness to cover illegal cigarette production in the region. According to media , then employees of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Khmelnytsky region collectively appealed to the Office of the President, the Verkhovna Rada, the Ministry of Finance, the State Tax Service of Ukraine with a request to prevent the dismissal of the head of the regional tax service Iryna Zlenko.
"Well, there are quite a few such scandals that relate to Sokur, so I would think that law enforcement should not just consider this version, it should be their priority," Mosiychuk emphasized.
He also reminded that Sokur is not an independent figure and he has never been independent. "Sokur is absolutely Hetmantsev's man," Mosiychuk said.
The former MP does not rule out that the patrons of the acting deputy head of the tax service are afraid of losing their man in this state body.
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On August 17, 2023, at about 8:00 a.m., two men were allegedly going to attack Sokur at the playground in the residential complex where he lives. They were detained by the police. A photo of Sokur and his car was allegedly found in the detainees' car, which, according to law enforcement, indicates that the crime was ordered. The first to report the attempt was the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, who had previously worked as Sokur's assistant.
The police investigated the criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 14; Part 2 of Article 121 of the Criminal Code (preparation for a crime, infliction of grievous bodily harm by a group of persons or committed on order). The case has now been referred to court. The sanction of the article provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
UNN studied the case in detail and journalists had a number of questions that led them to believe that the attempt on Sokur's life could have been staged. In particular, suspicions are raised by the fact that the potential perpetrators did not even take the bats out of the bag when they were allegedly walking towards Sokur. In addition, the time and place of the crime is questionable - it is always crowded there, and therefore they would not have gone unnoticed. The journalists do not rule out that the men were supposed to just come there to create the appearance of preparing for an assassination attempt, and they did not have a task to beat Sokur.
In addition, there are questions to the witnesses in the case, as well as why during the investigation, no expert results were obtained to explain whether the men's fingerprints were on the photos allegedly found in their car.
According to the defendants' defense lawyer, Tetyana Okhrimchuk, there are questions about Sokur's testimony. According to her, he lied during the interrogation.
Sources of UNN in the court said that Sokur's ex-boss put pressure on the judges, which also confirms Hetmantsev's interest in the case.
Read more about what was wrong with the attempted assassination attempt at link.