The SSU jointly with the SBI have exposed a corruption scheme at Zhytomyr Customs. The mechanism consisted in illegal import of cars to Ukraine and caused losses to the state budget of over UAH 20 mln (USD 494,000).

According to the investigation, the criminal scheme was set up by top officials of one of the customs posts in Zhytomyr oblast. Investigators documented that they had helped import foreign-made ambulances without paying customs duties.

In the autumn of 2020, representatives of an importing Kyiv company transported 26 ambulances to Ukraine and registered them for storage in a ‘customs warehouse’ mode.

This option allows the vehicle to stay in customs logistics centers without paying taxes and fees during 1 year.

When this period expires, a car must be cleared through customs and fees are to be paid to the state budget, or the vehicle should be returned to the exporting country.

However, the customs officers ‘agreed’ with the businessmen to make a fictitious re-export of ambulances to artificially extend the period of their free stay in Ukraine.

The officials carried out the so-called ‘re-entry’ across the border according to the documents. In fact, the vehicles remained at the customs warehouse in Zhytomyr region.

During this time, the businessmen were looking for buyers for the imported goods and selling them after customs clearance at a ‘minimum’ rate.

To do this, they entered artificially low value of foreign cars in the customs declarations, while the customs officers ‘did not notice’ this difference.

Based on the evidence collected, the deputy chief of the customs post and the chief of the customs clearance unit were notified of suspicion under the Article 364.2 of the CCU (abuse of office that caused grave consequences).

Court chose nightly house arrest as a measure of restraint for the suspects.

At the initiative of the SSU and the State Bureau of Investigation, over 20 ambulances with full medical equipment, which had been seized, were transferred to be used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The SSU Zhytomyr Office exposed the offence jointly with the SBI’s Main Investigation Department under the supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.