Corruption trail: how the most influential tax officer Sokur avoids responsibility for violations in the State Tax Service

Corruption in Ukraine is a key problem that significantly affects the efficiency of state institutions and public trust in the government, especially when it comes to the State Tax Service of Ukraine. One such scandalous situation is the activities of Yevhen Sokur, the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service. Despite numerous suspicions and facts of violations, the tax authorities and the relevant parliamentary committee chaired by Danylo Hetmantsev demonstrate a lack of active reaction and inaction, UNN writes.

Appointment and criminal proceedings

A trail of scandals has been following Yevhen Sokur since he joined the tax service. It all started when journalists had questions about the appointment of a man who had never worked as a tax officer but was an assistant to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, MP Danylo Hetmantsev.

In April 2022, Yevhen Sokur was selected for the position of head of the Economic Analysis Department of the State Tax Service, but he failed the competition. On April 18, 2022, Maryna Baryakhtar was announced the winner of the selection, who, according to media reports, refused to take the position three days later. 

In other words, Baryakhtar actually gave way to Sokur, who is now called by the media Hetmantsev's right-hand man in the tax service. Back then, Sokur, who had never worked at the State Tax Service, needed this position as an intermediate step to the position of acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine. After all, in just two weeks, on May 7, he joined the management team of the tax service and became the most influential tax officer. Journalists claim that no personnel appointments are made without Sokur's knowledge, and that he is in charge of one of the most profitable and corrupt areas of the service's activities - licensing.

It is possible that there was an agreement with Barakhtyar, because she did not leave the STS bodies after the refusal and received the position of director of the risk management department.

After Sokur received the chair of the acting deputy chairman of the state tax service, another scandal broke out with his direct participation. It became known that he had already illegally revoked the license of one of the critical infrastructure enterprises during a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are talking about the order of Yevhen Sokur to cancel the license of PJSC "Ukrtatnafta" for fuel production dated October 26, 2022. 

On November 4, 2022, the State Bureau of Investigation even opened criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. 

Investigators believed that Sokur's actions probably caused severe consequences for the company and the state in the form of the inability to fulfill the mobilization tasks of the Ministry of Defense for the production and supply of petroleum products for the needs of defense and the state's defense capability.

Later, it became known that the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service had allegedly been assassinated. However, it is also questionable whether the crime actually took place, as this event coincided with the fact that journalists learned about the criminal proceedings against Sokur.  Read more about what was wrong with the assassination attempt at link.

At that time, the victim Sokur managed to divert public attention from serious accusations by the SBI, and the case was hidden away from the eyes of journalists and the public. According to the official report of law enforcement, the criminal proceedings are still under investigation.

At the same time, Sokur continues to work in his position and probably violated the law again by revoking the license of Chervonoslobidskyi Distillery LLC due to the insufficient number of surveillance cameras at the enterprise. By the way, the court canceled Sokur's order .

Millionaire without a million

Appointment to a position and illegal deprivation of licenses of enterprises are not all that a well – known taxman has gone overboard on.

The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has started monitoring Yevhen Sokur's lifestyle after information emerged that he may have been hiding the fact that he had a live-in girlfriend for years.

According to UNN , the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service allegedly entered inaccurate data in his 2023 declaration. In particular, he did not indicate in the document the information about his partner. During the investigation into the case of an alleged attempted assassination attempt, Sokur himself told law enforcement officers that since 2016 he had been living with a girl named Alina in an apartment at 6-D Lobanovskoho Avenue. 

In addition, in 2022, he declared income from the sale of securities in the amount of UAH 2.6 million, but these funds were not reflected in his declaration for 2023. This may indicate a violation of the law requiring notification of significant changes in property status. According to Article 52 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption,” the declarant is obliged to report such changes within 10 days.

According to Oleksandr Zolotukhin, a member of the National Bar Association, the official may try to explain why he did not declare these expenses by saying that he leads a lifestyle and, for example, likes to eat out.

“He really should have declared any purchases above UAH 140 thousand that he made this year. In the future, he can explain it in such a way that he went out every day and bought, say, UAH 50 thousand worth of groceries, like he likes to eat well, conditionally. They often do this: they don't record significant purchases and don't record that they have them left - they say they led such a lifestyle. But this is not an objective explanation that he could have spent such an amount of money on accommodation or food or anything else in a year,” the lawyer said.

According to him, concealment of significant expenses from the NACP by an official is a violation of anti-corruption legislation, which is subject to administrative liability. Sokur may face a fine and a ban on engaging in certain activities. “This fine may affect his further civil service,” the lawyer said.

Impunity and protection

The relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada on finance, tax and customs policy, headed by Daniil Hetmantsev, should be the tool that monitors such cases and responds to them. However, so far his reaction to the violation of Evgeny Sokur is absent.

Interestingly, Sokur has close ties to Hetmantsev, as he was an aide to the MP, which casts doubt on his independence. Moreover, there is speculation that Danylo Hetmantsev may have used his influence to ensure the “immunity” of his former aide and helped Sokur avoid criminal liability.

Although the chairman of the Rada's tax committee publicly declares zero tolerance for violations of the law by tax officials, he ignores the actions of his protege.