Officers of the SBU Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime exposed the former deputy head of one of the departments of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine of abuse of power. Due to his illegal actions, the state budget suffered millions of losses.

Allegedly, in January 2017, the official rejected the application of an auto trader for a VAT refund of more than UAH 4000,000 (USD 143,000). Despite the entrepreneur's legal right to compensation, the perpetrator unreasonably classified the payment as risky and blocked it. The distributor appealed this decision in an administrative court and, in addition to the amount claimed, received compensation from the state. As a result, the state budget suffered losses for more than UAH 3000,000 (USD 107,000).

The official received a notice of suspicion on abuse of power or official powers, entailing grave consequences. If guilty is proved, he faces imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Based on the SBU materials, two officials of the State Border Guard Service in Kharkiv region, the deputy head of the regional department and the head of one of the departments, who planned to benefit from this situation, were also served notice of suspicion of official negligence and non-compliance with the court decision.

The operation was conducted jointly with the Territorial Administration of the State Bureau of Investigation in Poltava region, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor's Office of Kharkiv region.