Expert: The situation with Acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Sokur is an example of how officials disregard the law

The facts of alleged false declarations by the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur, revealed by journalists show how officials disregard the law. In a fair state, Sokur would have been suspended from his position immediately after such information emerged, and he would have been fired immediately after it was confirmed. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by the head of the #SaveFOP movement Serhiy Dorotych.

Context

Earlier , UNN reported that the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service, Yevhen Sokur, had probably 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. Following a deputy appeal by Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, the NACP launched an inspection of Yevhen Sokur. In response to a request from UNN, the Agency also confirmed that it was conducting monitoring.  Kateryna Butko, head of the Public Council at the NAPC, said that the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is checking whether Sokur and his partner Alina had a common life.

As for this particular case, it is another indicator of how much our officials despise the law. They believe that laws are not written for them, and that serfs and slaves are supposed to obey the laws. This is the way things are in our country and they are not changing. And the fish rots from the head and, unfortunately, our head does not draw conclusions from previous mistakes and does not take tough measures against his team in the first place

According to him, the government should be as rigorous and scrupulous as possible about the work of its team members.

Commenting on the example of the failure of acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Yevhen Sokur to include information about his cohabitant in his declaration, Dorotych reminded that according to the Family Code, a woman who has been living with a man for a long time is considered a member of his family.

Should such people work in the tax service? In general, I believe that such people should not be allowed to hold public office. Moreover, in a normal, healthy society... such a person would be a wolf's ticket

He recalled the example of Japan, where  an official who has tarnished his reputation will not be able to find himself or herself later, and the only way out is to leave the country and look for opportunities to adapt somewhere else and earn money there. 

But not here - here they will shuffle, change, scold at most, and that will be the end of it. How many such cases are there

According to him, in a fair state, an official like Sokur would be removed from office immediately after journalists discovered facts of violations of anti-corruption legislation.

The next step is a quick and prompt investigation of the facts and, if confirmed, immediate dismissal, opening of criminal proceedings and exemplary punishment, with confiscation of property, because civil servants are not the private sector, they have all their wealth from the state budget, they eat from it. Therefore, confiscation of property and a ban on holding any positions paid for by the state budget

Let's add

As it turned out, on April 21, 2022, the State Tax Service requested the NACP to conduct a monitoring check on Yevhen Sokur. The monitoring did not take place because of martial law declared due to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the tax office could not but know that there would be no inspection.

Interestingly, in April 2022, Yevhen Sokur was selected for the position of head of the Economic Analysis Department of the State Tax Service, but the former assistant to the head of the Rada's tax committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, failed the competition. The winner of the selection was announced on April 18, 2022, as Maryna Baryakhtar, who, according to media reports, refused to take the position three days later. That is, she actually gave way to Sokur, whom the media call Hetmantsev's right-hand man in the tax office. At the time, 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, just two weeks later, on May 7, he received this leadership position. It is possible that there was an agreement with Barakhtyar, since she did not leave the STS to take the position of Director of the Risk Management Department.

According to media reports, it was in 2022 that acting Deputy Head of the Tax Service Sokur used a zero declaration and indicated UAH 2.5 million, the legal origin of which he would not otherwise have been able to explain to the inspectors. This means that he had previously  actually concealed them from the tax authorities and would probably not have passed the audit if the NACP had conducted it. 

Recall

Earlier , UNN reported that the attempted assassination of the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur, raises many questions about its authenticity. It could have been stagedto divert attention from the criminal proceedings against Sokur for abuse of office.

We are talking about criminal proceedingsopened on November 4, 2022 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 Yevhen Sokur, who on October 26, 2022 issued an order to revoke the license of PJSC Ukrtatnafta for the production of fuel. Such actions of Sokur, according to the investigation , 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.