Twisting, turning, confusing, or how acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Sokur tried to avoid the NACP inspection

The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is monitoring whether the real lifestyle of the acting head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur, matches the declared one. As it turned out, the State Tax Service had previously asked the NAPC to verify Sokur's declaration, but the verification did not take place, UNN reports.

Context

Earlier, UNN reported that the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service, Yevhen Sokur, had entered probably inaccurate data in his 2023 declaration. In particular, he did not provide information about his partner in the document. During the investigation into the alleged 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 from Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, the NACP launched an investigation into Yevhen Sokur. In response to a request from UNN, the Agency also confirmed that it was conducting monitoring. The head of the Public Council at the NACP, Kateryna Butko, noted that the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is checking whether Sokur and his partner Alina had a common household.

Also, in response to a request UNN, the NACP reported that on April 21, 2022, the State Tax Service requested the Agency to conduct a check on Yevhen Sokur.

"The National Agency received a request from the State Tax Service of Ukraine dated 21.04.2022 to verify information about Yevhen Sokur. By letter dated 25.05.2022, the National Agency informed the requestor that in accordance with Part 8 of Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law" (amended by the Law of Ukraine dated 12.05. 2022 No. 2259-IX), the special inspection provided for by the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" in respect of persons applying for positions that involve holding responsible or particularly responsible positions and positions with increased corruption risk is not carried out during martial law, and that the organization of a special inspection in respect of persons appointed during martial law is carried out within three months from the date of termination or cancellation of martial law, except for the case of the dismissal of such a person before the day of termination or cancellation of martial law or the completion of the said inspections during martial law. The National Agency has not received any other requests for a special inspection of Yevhen Sokur," the NACP said in its response.

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. On April 18, 2022, Maryna Baryakhtar was announced the winner of the selection, who, according to media reports, refused to take the position three days later.

In other words, Baryakhtar actually gave way to Sokur, whom the media call Hetmantsev's right-hand man in the tax service. 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 was promoted to this leadership position.

It is possible that there was an agreement with Barakhtyar, since she did not leave the State Tax Service after the refusal and was promoted to the position of  Director of the Risk Management Department.

According to the law, before appointments to senior positions, the NACP checks declarations submitted by candidates. However, Sokur managed to avoid such a check under the pretext of martial law. Did the State Tax Service not know that the verification would not be carried out, or, on the contrary, did they request monitoring to deflect suspicions?

You might think, what's the big deal, since in 2022 many newly appointed officials were not checked? But not all of them used the income legalization mechanism.

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 actually concealed them from the tax authorities. 

Of course, the zero declaration was created for the purpose of allowing everyone to legalize their wealth and subsequently pay taxes on it, but this does not add to the credibility of one of the country's top tax officials. And if we recall that he probably did not indicate the information about his partner in his declaration for years, the question arises: what else is one of the country's top tax officials hiding?

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 credibility. It could have been staged to divert attention from the criminal proceedings against Sokur for abuse of office.

This is a criminal proceeding opened 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.