Criminal case opened against acting deputy head of the State Tax Service Sokur for obstructing the supply of fuel to the army

Criminal proceedings have been opened against the protégé and right-hand man of the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, and the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur, for obstructing the fulfillment of the mobilization tasks of the Ministry of Defense to produce and supply fuel for the army. UNN learned about this from the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The ruling of the court, in particular, states that on November 4, 2022, criminal proceedings  were opened under Part 3 of Art. 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, on the fact of abuse of office by the acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, who on October 26, 2022, issued an order to revoke the license of PJSC Ukrtatnafta for the production of fuel. Such actions of Sokur allegedly caused serious 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 defense capability of the state.

It is worth noting that the criminal proceedings against Sokur are also mentioned in the decision of the Poltava District Administrative Court of January 9, 2024. In particular, the court attached to the case file a copy of a letter from the Prosecutor General's Office dated November 9, 2022, confirming that criminal proceedings had been opened against Sokur.

The case against the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service was opened because of two identical orders dated October 26, 2022, issued by Sokur, which revoked Ukrtatnafta's license. The documents had an identical number and date, but the grounds for license revocation were different. In one, the company allegedly refused to allow the tax authorities to conduct an inspection without legal grounds. The second one stated that the company had failed to pay the next license fee within 30 days of the license suspension.

At the same time, only one Sokur's order concerning a tax audit is published on the tax authority's website.

The company appealed the decision of the acting deputy head of the tax authority in court. During the hearings, Sokur's representative argued that the second order was erroneous. And the one issued on the basis of non-admission of tax officers to the company was legal. 

However, the courts of first, appellate and cassation instances recognized that the tax audit was conducted in violation of the law, and therefore Ukrtatnafta had every right to prevent the STS representatives from entering its territory.

As a result, the orders of the State Tax Service of Ukraine to revoke Ukrtatnafta's license for fuel production, valid from July 1, 2019 to July 1, 2024, were also recognized as unlawful. The State Tax Service was ordered to cancel them.

In addition, the tax authority should remove from the Unified State Register of business entities that have obtained licenses for the production, storage, wholesale and retail trade of fuel and places of production, storage, wholesale and retail trade of fuel information on the revocation of the license for fuel production and restore information on the validity of Ukrtatnafta's license.

It is worth noting that in 2022, Ukrtatnafta's refinery was one of the largest suppliers of fuel to the army. On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Office even decided to nationalize the enterprise as a strategic one.

"Today a decision was announced regarding some Ukrainian enterprises. This decision is dictated by military necessity and was announced at the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters.

Five strategic enterprises are being forcibly alienated for the needs of wartime... These are the repair and production of equipment, the supply of defense forces, and work to restore our infrastructure - a complex task that can only be accomplished through the system of military-state governance," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The question immediately arises: Didn't Yevhen Sokur, the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, realize that stopping a strategically important enterprise during a war is a betrayal of the state's interests?

Are his actions a lack of experience on the part of the 29-year-old former assistant to Hetmantsev? Then what is he doing in such a position?

Did he harm the state on someone else's instructions? Here, by the way, one cannot but mention the background of his former boss, and now, according to the media, the shadow curator of the tax service, Danylo Hetmantsev. After all, he worked for 8 years as an assistant to the traitor and FSB agent Vladimir Sivkovich, who is now hiding in Russia.

The same Hetmantsev, through whom the Russians knew exactly where the largest fuel reserves were located in Ukraine and destroyed them point by point. After all, it was he who lobbied for the installation of electronic sensors for the presence of fuel in barrels, which transmitted information in real time and to which terrorists could gain access.

Add

After law enforcement opened criminal proceedings against Sokur, he was allegedly assassinated on August 17, 2023. Earlier, we told you that there are many questions  about the "assassination attempt" case and that it seems that it was not an order, but rather a staging. After all, the information that law enforcement officers had prevented an assassination attempt on the acting deputy head of the tax service diverted public attention from the criminal case against him.

At the time, social media did not believe in this crime, and users assumed that the assassination attempt was a plan by Hetmantsev and Sokur. In addition, the posts also asked how Sokur, who was 29 years old at the time and had no experience, had gotten such a position.

It is worth noting that UNN filed a journalistic request to the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the case against Sokur.

Recall

Sokur has been acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine since May 2022. Business representatives and experts believe that he is Hetmantsev's man. The website of the tax service still does not even have his photo, let alone his work biography.

Prior to his appointment as acting deputy head of the State Tax Service, Sokur had never worked in the tax service. He was selected for the position of head of the Economic Analysis Department of the State Tax Service, but did not pass, because on April 18, 2022, Marina Baryakhtar was announced the winner, who, according to Hroshi, refused to take the position three days later. Sokur was declared the winner. On May 7, he became the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service.

According to journalists, Sokur received a tax amnesty for more than UAH 2.5 million in 2022. This means that he had previously  hidden it from the tax authorities. 

Sokur's career is intertwined with Hetmantsev's companies and organizations. According to the YouControl system, he is still associated with the Association of Tax Advisors and TAXAKADEMI. The former was once headed by Hetmantsev. In addition, the Public Council at the State Tax Service includes Vitalii Odzhykovskyi, a representative of the Association of Tax Advisors.

One of the founders of Taxacademy is also Danylo Hetmantsev.  In addition, in 2018, Sokur worked for the law firm Yurimex, whose ultimate beneficiary was also Hetmantsev. And we should not forget that Sokur previously worked as an assistant to MP Hetmantsev.