Battle for grain: how the state fights against "black" exports and what schemes are invented by unscrupulous businessmen
Kyiv • UNN
How the state fights against "black" grain exports and what schemes unscrupulous businessmen come up with.
On May 31, the Bureau of economic security reported on the exposure of current and former employees of the Odessa Customs, who helped the exporting company evade taxes for more than UAH 13 million. customs officers issued certificates of origin of agricultural products to the exporting company on the basis of false documents. "five participants in this scheme have already been notified of suspicion, and the pre – trial investigation continues," the BEB noted.
This investigation is the tip of the iceberg, because BEB has been engaged in systemic customs violations for more than a year, but given the volume of exports, a well-coordinated work of several state bodies is necessary.
Since the beginning of 2024, Ukraine has exported 31.36 million tons of agricultural products worth almost UAH 300 billion. according to experts, more than 1.6 million tons, that is, UAH 16.18 billion, are so-called risky operations.
In 2023, this figure was at the level of 50% and amounted to 64 million tons (data according to statistical reports of the State Customs Service). Then, for 9 months, analysts of the Bureau of economic security foundthat risky enterprises exported grain of unknown origin for UAH 133.9 billion , which is more than 20% of the total amount.
Experts explain the downward trend in "black" exports by several factors. In particular, this is the activation of law enforcement agencies and state structures, as well as related changes in the work of risky exporters.
Now most of them operate under the "Committee – commission agent"scheme. It consists in including a commission agent in the chain. That is, a company that provides export support services only. While all material and financial obligations are assigned to the principal, for example, the manufacturer of products.
Another scheme under which "black" grain exports are currently taking place is the use of forged documents from a value – added tax defaulter on created "fictitious" enterprises. The company replenishes a special account with cash (14%), which creates a VAT registration limit and registers tax invoices for the exporter of agricultural products.
Under such conditions, it will be possible to assess the real losses of the state only at the end of the year.
What is "black" grain export?
According to experts of the Bureau of economic security, which, together with Customs and the state tax service, should fight against "black" grain exports, one of the most common methods of unscrupulous exporters is the use of risky enterprises. They are created in advance for the export of unaccounted grain purchased for cash.
That is, farmers grow grain and sell it for cash to companies that are registered as front persons and are not engaged in permanent economic activities. These companies do not submit documents on the origin of grain or declare imaginary producers in customs declarations.
After the grain leaves the borders of Ukraine, it is resold several times, and it already legally gets to the final buyer. As a result, foreign currency earnings are not returned to Ukraine, and the budget does not receive revenues, since exporting companies are fictitious.
Usually, the final buyer of grain is a non-resident company, which transfers funds for the goods to another non-resident associated with the Ukrainian exporter.
There is also a scheme in which the currency is transferred to the current accounts of a non-resident, who then buys goods, for example, in China, and imports them to Ukraine, then sells them for cash and sells a tax credit to other enterprises.
Illustrative example
Back in January 2021, a number of companies engaged in grain export and associated with the GNT Group of Odessa businessmen Sergey Groza and Vladimir Naumenko came to the attention of law enforcement officers. LLC "Ferko", LLC "Metalzukraine Corp Ltd", LLC" grain transshipment complex "Inzernoexport" and the enterprise "Vtormetexport", belonging to the GNT Group, actively used the details of "risky" enterprises to conduct export operations. During the investigation, the territorial Department of BEB in the Odessa region identified at least three such "risky" enterprises: outstaff 19 LLC, ALICENTA Trade LLC and SOLTEK PRRSAKT LLC. In addition, the investigation found that the grain that was exported was stored, in particular, in the warehouses of Olimpex Coupe International LLC, which is also controlled by Groza and Naumenko.
According to the results of the investigation, law enforcement officers found that none of the mentioned "risky" enterprises has evidence of the purchase of grain that was planned to be exported – and this is more than 2 thousand tons of corn, barley, wheat (this is only what was discovered by law enforcement officers during searches). In addition, all these enterprises violated the requirements of financial and tax reporting, demonstrated zero profitability, and underestimated income tax.
Only within the framework of this criminal proceeding, according to law enforcement estimates, Groza and Naumenko companies caused damage to the state in the amount of almost UAH 37.5 million. at the same time, the exporter of "gray" grain was Agiros LLC, which belongs to the well-known smuggler Vadim Alperin, against whom the national security and Defense Council imposed sanctions in 2021 and who was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. And these cereals were shipped, according to media reports, by another company controlled by Groza and Naumenko, Attollo Granum.
Now the specified criminal proceedings are still being investigated.
Another criminal proceeding, which involves Groza and Naumenko's company Olimpex Coupe International LLC, is being investigated by the territorial Department of BEB of the city of Kiev. It was opened a year later, in 2022, and also concerns "Gray" grain exports.
The case is being investigated under articles on tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.
The scheme used by Groza and Naumenko's company is identical to the one used earlier, only the names of fictitious companies differ, and even then not all of them. In particular, it includes outstaff 19 LLC, which has already been mentioned in another criminal proceeding.
In addition to this company, they also used the "risky" enterprises "express VSE" and "AGROTRANS-group".
With their help, according to the investigation, at least 40 thousand tons of grain and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
How does the state deal with "black" grain exports?
Back in September 2022, at that time, deputy director of BEB Vitaly Gagach signed a memorandum of cooperation between BEB and the tax and Customs Services. According to the document, these bodies should jointly control grain exports, counteract tax evasion schemes, non-return of foreign currency earnings, and fight the legalization of proceeds from crime.
Cooperation consisted in the fact that the exporting company had to submit a preliminary customs declaration to customs. Customs provided this data to the Tax Service, which checked the company. If the exporter, for example, did not have employees, land, warehouses, bank accounts, did not pay taxes, that is, had signs of fictitiousness, the Tax Service sent this information to Customs and BEB.
Based on this data, the Economic Security Bureau was supposed to conduct searches and seize grain. Since grain re-inspection control, inspections or searches are among the main tools in this work.
However, there is a nuance, both in the algorithm approved in the mentioned memorandum, and in the course of analytical work, the BEB uses STS data. In particular, to identify risky exporters. Therefore, if suddenly Daniil Hetmantsev or the Tax Service does not want to, the baby will not see it. And vice versa-the company can very quickly be put at risk and sent to BEB, who will have to work it out already in the framework of criminal proceedings. The STS risk Commission monitors exports every day, counts payments, arrival availability, and informs the BEB in order to seize grain before departure.
According to Vitaly Gagach, former deputy director of BEB, in less than a year BEB has worked for more than 1,300 companies engaged in risky operations for the export of agricultural products of dubious origin.
Another attempt by MPs to solve the problem
In early 2023, the Bureau of economic security exposed a dozen high-ranking officials of the state Customs Service and the Odessa customs, involved in schemes to steal funds for the export of Ukrainian grain. Vitaly Gagach commented then that, according to BEB, in August-September 2022, fictitious companies exported more than 1 million tons of grain of dubious origin due to the capacity of grain terminals in the ports of Greater Odessa. At that time, the ports only started working within the "grain corridor".
This story forced the authorities to look for ways to solve the problem. The result of these searches was the adoption on January 12 by the Parliament of a law that introduced an export security regime. Permission to export grain should be granted only to VAT payers. To export goods abroad, they first had to register a tax invoice. However, not at the rate of 0% (as for export operations), but at the rate of 14% – the VAT rate for domestic sales of grain, corn and barley. But the law never worked, because the relevant committee of Hetmantsev buried his own initiative.
Subsequently, there was another failed change in the rules for exporting agricultural products. Under the new procedure, it could only be exported by exporters included in the state agrarian register, or companies that received a license for such export.
Oleg Kiper, the head of the Odessa RMA, also made an attempt to block access to exports to "cash workers". It is through this region that almost 75% of Ukrainian exports pass.
The Order Of The Odessa RMA No. 19 was published, the purpose of which was to counteract the trade in "gray" grain. In particular, he demanded that exporters do what the law adopted in January should have done: submit tax invoices together with the customs declaration ten days before loading products onto the ship. However, despite its effectiveness, such a measure could not be permanent.
Therefore, in early May, the Verkhovna Rada finally adopted laws on combating "black" grain exports and non-return of foreign currency earnings. The draft laws 10168-2 and 10169-2 provide for amendments to the tax and Customs codes to improve the implementation of foreign economic operations for the export of certain goods, it is proposed to introduce mechanisms that minimize opportunities for abuse in the export of agricultural products, which will ensure large foreign exchange earnings to the state and positively affect the stability of the national currency.
Why is the system not working?
Currency supervision of exporters in Ukraine is carried out by banks, the state Customs Service, the Tax Service and the National Bank. When a Ukrainian company ships goods to a non-resident, customs notifies the bank that serves it. Then the bank starts counting down 180 days, during which the currency should be credited to its client's accounts.
If this does not happen, the bank notifies the tax service, which sends the information to the tax service, so that it conducts an audit and punishes the violator, or sends the information to the BEB.
However, when information about violations reaches the point where there is often no one to check: companies close without returning currency for exports and without paying any taxes.
In this situation, Customs should work, but they complain that they do not have sufficient powers, which means that they only check the compliance of documents. While the origin of the same grain does not bother them too much. As a result," black " grain leaves the country legally, causing multibillion-dollar losses to the budget.
In turn, overregulation of the sphere and problems with VAT administration Force White producers to go into the shadows.
In addition, there are legislative gaps, lack of effective interaction between regulators, regulatory and law enforcement agencies, and a corruption component.
