In city of Odesa, the SBU exposed corruption schemes. The schemes were organized by the officials a customs post and an official of the State Food and Consumer Service.

The SBU operatives documented the systematic extortion for not creating artificial barriers during the customs clearance of goods. For various amounts of illegal benefit, the offenders threatened to delay the process of customs clearance or unreasonable increase of mandatory payments.

The SBU officers established that customs officers earned up to USD 3,000 USD a month. The scheme operated several months. The law enforcement officers detained one of the offenders, a senior state inspector of the customs post, while receiving another “transaction” from importers. He was served a notice of suspicion.

The possible involvement of other officials and heads of the Odesa customs in the corruption scheme is also being checked.

The SBU also exposed the chief specialist of a structural unit of the State Food and Consumer Service in Odessa region on corruption.

The SBU established that the offender demanded illegal benefit from businessmen. The offender guaranteed them avoidance of administrative liability for violations detected during inspections.

The operatives documented the perpetrator and his subordinates receiving a bribe from the manager of a company.

The law enforcement detained the offender after receiving another bribe.

In both cases, criminal proceedings have been initiated upon the fact of taking a bribe. The issue of serving the offenders notices of suspicion is being resolved.

The investigation is ongoing.

The operations were conducted jointly with the territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation, located in Mykolayiv, the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa Region under supervision of Odesa Region Prosecutor's Office.