Officials of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection who organized a scheme of extortion from exporters of the "grain corridor" are exposed
Kyiv • UNN
Officials of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection organized a corruption scheme that extorted millions of hryvnias from agricultural exporters every month for issuing export documents.
Law enforcement officers exposed officials of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in two regions who organized a scheme to extort money from agricultural exporters for issuing documents. The officials earned millions of hryvnias every month. This was reported on Tuesday by the press service of the State Bureau of Investigation, according to UNN.
Employees of the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions organized a corruption scheme to extort money for issuing phytosanitary certificates required for export and import of agricultural products, as well as for issuing inspection reports required for export of barley and corn
The criminal group reportedly consisted of more than 11 people, including the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Zaporizhzhia region and the head of the Department of Phytosanitary Security of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Odesa region.
It also included two chief inspectors from the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Odesa Oblast and two from Zaporizhzhia Oblast, as well as civilians, including heads of brokerage companies that acted as intermediaries.
According to preliminary estimates, the "dealers" received more than USD 160 thousand monthly from their illegal activities.
Law enforcement officers conducted 60 searches in different regions of Ukraine, during which they found and seized more than USD 100 thousand and UAH 500 thousand from illegal activities, 8 elite-class cars, notebooks with a list of distribution of amounts between the participants of the scheme, as well as draft records and computer equipment on which the seized documents were produced; other items and things that will serve as evidence during the pre-trial investigation.
Five members of the criminal group were detained and served a notice of suspicion of receiving an illegal demand on a particularly large scale (Part 3 Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)
It is also planned to make a decision on serving suspicion notices to the officials involved in the fraud, the SBI said.
The investigation is ongoing.
