ESBU attempted to lie to the Rada's Tax Committee about its achievements in returning funds to the budget

Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy, criticized the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) for attempting to deceive committee members by using old data in reporting on the Bureau's achievements for the past year, specifically regarding restitution of damages to the state. According to him, inflating figures not only undermines trust in the body itself but also calls into question the real results of the fight against economic crimes, UNN reports.

You won't let me lie—I am one of the first on my channel to publicly express sincere gratitude to the BES if something positive happens. But if you publish or announce unreliable data, you discredit yourself, us, and our entire cause. This cannot be. Look, you stated in the report that based on the results of 2025, damages to the state were compensated in cash—you just confirmed this—in the amount of 3.8 billion UAH. Our analysis of the information you provided shows that 2.8-2.9 billion UAH is not from 2025 at all. It is from 2022 to 2024. Why are you writing unreliable data in the BES report?

The head of the tax committee emphasized that his conclusions are based not on assumptions, but on an analysis of specific payment orders indicating the dates the payments were made.

We have specific tables with a list of payment orders by date—every single payment order—where, by comparing all these figures (...) it is all clear and visible that these are actually from previous periods

According to him, if only actual receipts for 2025 to the relevant budget accounts are taken into account, the amount of restitution is only about 47 million UAH, not 3.8 billion UAH as the BES tried to claim.

Separately, the head of the tax committee drew attention to a practice that, in his opinion, distorts the real picture of the effectiveness of law enforcement work.

He cited an example of a case involving approximately 70 million UAH, where a company deposited funds to settle claims within a criminal proceeding in 2024. After this, the proceeding was closed, and the amount itself was included in BES statistics as damages restored to the state.

However, the enterprise later reclaimed these funds from the budget as an overpayment of tax obligations.

There is no need to present victories that do not exist. By doing this, you discredit yourself, you discredit the trust in you, and you call into question the real victories that you do have

Crisis of trust in the Bureau

Hetmantsev's statement only reinforced existing grievances against the Bureau of Economic Security due to corruption exposures of BES employees, criticism from the business community regarding the use of criminal proceedings as a tool of pressure, and discussions about the need to audit cases investigated by the bureau.

According to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, in two separate criminal proceedings, a senior detective of the BES territorial administration in the Kyiv region and an analyst of the Bureau's central office were exposed for using their official positions for illicit gain.

According to the investigation, one demanded 15 thousand dollars from a man who was previously involved in a case regarding the production and sale of counterfeit money, in exchange for not bringing him to criminal responsibility again. The other promised a company representative to facilitate the issuance of a fuel storage license through connections in the tax service for 2 thousand dollars.

A system that is supposed to protect the state's economy cannot be a place for those who try to use their position for personal enrichment

People's deputies interviewed by UNN stated the need for an audit of criminal proceedings investigated by the BES to check for contract-based motives. They also point to the need for a reboot and cleansing of the law enforcement agency.

A series of criminal proceedings against air carriers could become a indicative case for checking the legality of criminal proceedings investigated by the Bureau of Economic Security. As UNN reported, the BES is investigating a number of cases regarding at least five Ukrainian airlines, including UIA, Constanta Airline, Urga, H3OPERATIONS, and Skyline. These air carriers lease aircraft abroad from non-resident companies of Ukraine. The Bureau is convinced that the airlines should pay royalties in Ukraine—a fee charged for the use of intellectual property. At the same time, the fact that transport is not intellectual property is completely ignored, and Conventions on the avoidance of double taxation are in effect between Ukraine and a number of countries. According to these agreements, Ukrainian companies pay taxes specifically for leasing and in those countries where the lessor companies are residents.

It is on this legal construction, unsupported by legislation, that criminal proceedings for tax evasion are based. However, the problem is that such a position contradicts both international practice and court decisions that have already been established in Ukraine.

Ukrainian courts have repeatedly considered similar disputes regarding the rental and leasing of vehicles from non-residents and have sided with business, indicating that vehicle leasing is not a royalty.

This position is shared by specialized lawyers, tax experts, and specialists in the field of international taxation interviewed by UNN. They emphasize that international conventions on the avoidance of double taxation take precedence over internal interpretations of tax authorities, and leasing payments for transport cannot be equated to royalties.

That is why the criminal proceedings regarding airlines increasingly resemble not a fight against economic crimes, but an attempt to create an artificial tax dispute through the mechanisms of criminal prosecution.