NABU and SAPO exposed a conversion center with a turnover of 15 billion hryvnias, in which the former head of the State Tax Service is involved
NABU and SAPO together with the Security Service of Ukraine exposed the former head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the deputy head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Poltava region, who are suspected of abusing their official position in the interests of a criminal organization.
According to information from the Anti-Corruption Center, these are Yevhen Oleinnikov and Natalia Novozhenina.
According to the investigation, the participants in the scheme created a conversion center and involved more than 200 controlled companies to minimize tax payments. Participating enterprises issued fictitious tax invoices for business transactions with real companies, registered them in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices, after which these documents were used to reduce the tax liabilities of real businesses.
During 2020–2023, tax invoices with false data on the supply of goods and services for a total of 15 billion hryvnias were issued through the conversion center, and the amount of “scheme” VAT exceeded 2.3 billion hryvnias.
Investigators established that the then acting head of the State Tax Service facilitated the smooth operation of the conversion center, and the deputy head of the tax department in the Poltava region, who headed the commission on suspending the registration of tax invoices, ensured that decisions were made in favor of fictitious companies. As a result, the state budget received 147 million hryvnias less.
The organizers acted with a high level of coordination and conspiracy – they used foreign servers to store documents, VPN settings to hide IP addresses, foreign phone numbers, as well as bribery and pressure on fake company officials. Detectives seized and decrypted the accounting of the illegal benefits received by tax officials. In total, 11 people were reported for suspicion.
The criminal offenses were qualified under parts 1 and 2 of Article 255, part 3 of Article 212, part 2 of Article 364, part 4 of Article 368 and part 3 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The head of the conversion center was detained while attempting to leave Ukraine in accordance with article 208 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation was conducted with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine.
