In Odesa region, SBU officers blocked the corruption scheme of receiving bribes by customs officers during customs clearance of vehicles.

Allegedly, the chief of a checkpoint post of Odesa customs systematically extorted and received money from merchants who imported cars with foreign registration to Ukraine. For the financial benefit, he guaranteed not to create artificial obstacles during the customs clearance of vehicles and not to delay customs operations. The perpetrator involved into the corrupt scheme a unit head of the checkpoint post and the director of a brokerage firm that provides customs clearance services.

The cost of unimpeded customs clearance in the "import" mode of one vehicle ranged from USD 100 to 400, depending on the brand of a car.

The SBU operatives documented several facts of receiving bribes by the perpetrators. The total number of cars cleared within the corruption scheme is currently being established.

The law enforcement officers detained the chief, the unit head of the checkpoint post and the director of the brokerage firm in accordance with Art. 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine after receiving another bribe.

Within the framework of the initiated criminal proceedings upon the fact of taking a bribe (Part 3 of Art. 368 of the Criminal code of Ukraine), three perpetrators were served notices of suspicion. The investigation is ongoing to identify all participants of the scheme.

The operation was performed jointly with the Territorial Office of the State Bureau of Investigations located in Mykolaiv city under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office of Odesa region.