Expert: When businesses collected 17,000 signatures against Hetmantsev in 2022, they received calls from the tax office and were urged to withdraw them
Kyiv • UNN
According to Amelin, the lists of signatories were public, and many companies received calls from managers and local tax officials urging them to remove their signatures.
In 2022, the business collected 17,000 signatures for the resignation of MP Danylo Hetmantsev as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's Finance Committee. At that time, the signatories received a call from the tax office and were strongly advised to withdraw their signatures. Anatoliy Amelin, co-founder of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future think tank, said this on the ALPHA MEDIA YouTube channel, UNN reports.
By the way, I remind you that in 2022, Ukrainian business collected 17 thousand signatures for Hetmantsev's resignation. It is clear that this cannot be done, no one will remove the chairman of the committee, but he was then heading another national commission that was preparing a recovery plan for the Lugano conferences... which was criticized by everyone. The lists of those who voted were public, and many companies received calls from their managers and local tax officials, who strongly recommended that they remove their signatures. I have a list of at least 10 large Ukrainian companies that received calls. There are more, but I'm talking about big branded companies that have been called and asked. Now the question is: what kind of trust can we talk about if the tax service is used as a tool to twist arms against Ukrainian business, which is the basis for the Ukrainian economy?
Dmytro Oleksiyenko, a member of the Board of ICC Ukraine and a member of the Board of the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine, noted that the tax officer from the capital region who was detained for bribery is a direct vertical of Hetmantsev (probably the chief state inspector of one of the departments of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv, who was detained while receiving UAH 150,000). According to the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the tax officer demanded six thousand dollars a month from the owner of six gas stations in Kyiv and the region. In return, he promised not to create artificial obstacles in his business activities.
Oleksiyenko noted that the taxation of excisable goods is supervised by Yevhen Sokur.
"Yevhen Sokur, a specialized deputy, is in charge. And, let's just say, the head of the regional tax office has no influence on them. But he (Hetmantsev - ed.) writes on his TG channel that everything is great, they arrested him, and congratulations... and the head should be fired," Oleksiyenko said.
He also noted that Hetmantsev is de facto in charge of the tax office. In his turn, Anatoliy Amelin noted that an MP and the tax office represent different branches of government, and therefore an MP cannot be the supervisor of the tax office, which is a violation.
"This cannot happen in a democratic state," Oleksiyenko agreed.
