Tax Service Scandal: Criminal Scheme Exposed

NABU, SAP, and SBU have jointly uncovered the involvement of the former head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine and their deputy in misusing their positions for a criminal organization.
The investigation revealed that participants established a conversion center, involving over 200 shell companies to implement a scheme aimed at minimizing tax payments.

The criminal mechanism included:

• the creation of false tax invoices by controlled companies concerning transactions with real businesses;
• the registration of these invoices in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices;
• the use of invoices by legitimate businesses to reduce their tax liabilities.

Between 2020 and 2023, the conversion center issued tax invoices with false data regarding the supply of goods totaling 15 billion UAH, with the 'scheme' VAT exceeding 2.3 billion UAH.
The investigation established that the then-acting head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine facilitated the uninterrupted operation of the conversion center, while the deputy head of the Main Directorate of the STS in the Poltava region, who led the commission on the suspension of tax invoice registration, ensured decisions were made in favor of the conversion center's companies. As a result of this scheme, real businesses unjustifiably failed to pay 147 million UAH to the state budget. Currently, 11 individuals have been notified of suspicion.