Half of shift at Zhytomyr customs office suspected of fraudulent clearing of EU truck imports
SBU (Photo:СБУ)
Ukraine’s SBU security service and the State Bureau of Investigation, known by its Ukrainian acronym of DBR, have broken up a new corruption scheme at Zhytomyr Customs, the SBU reported on its Telegram channel on Feb. 10.
An SBU investigation found that the scheme resulted in the loss of at least UAH 3.5 million ($95,000) for the state. Customs officers fraudulently cleared imported trucks at customs, causing underpayment for vehicles imported from the European Union.
The illegal money-making scheme was facilitated by a commercial company that provided forged foreign vehicle technical documents with altered dates for the production and initial registration of trucks.
Currently, five chief inspectors at Zhytomyr Central Customs have been served notices of suspicion of abuse of official power or position causing serious consequences. Almost half of the customs shift is suspected of being involved in the scheme.
The SBU also reported that searches have begun at the central office of the State Customs Service and at eight regional customs offices — in Volyn, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Odesa, Kyiv, Rivne, and Zakarpattia oblasts.
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