The Ukrainian Bureau of Economic Security has caught a group of criminals who, under the guise of humanitarian aid, illegally brought more than 100 cars into the country and then sold them. Some of the cars may have originated in Estonia, according to a report in Postimees.
The bureau says that the individuals set up a charitable foundation in Ukraine and that it imported 130 vehicles of various makes under the pretext of aid for the Ukrainian armed forces. The process began in February of this year.
Some of the imported vehicles were sold on Internet portals featuring used cars. This allowed the suspects to avoid the payment of some 8 million hryvnias (nearly EUR 180,000) in taxes and customs fees to the Ukrainian state.
During the investigation, Bureau of Economic Security officers in the Lviv region conducted two controlled car purchases with the help of a whistleblower. Law enforcement officials then conducted a search of the suspects’ residences, confiscating documents, vehicles, cash and computer equipment.
The effort to identify all who were involved in these illegal activities is ongoing, the bureau says. The agency is being assisted by the Military Counterintelligence Department of the Ukrainian Security Service, as well as by representatives of the Border Guard.
A few days earlier the Bureau of Economic Security reported the capture of another group of criminals with a similar scheme. This one managed to smuggle 500 vehicles into Ukraine this year, and those that could not be sold were broken down for parts.
More than 50 searches at the residences of suspects yielded 30 vehicles among other items. The Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has also launched a criminal investigation into the matter.
The estimated loss in tax revenues for Ukraine because of this illicit trade amounts to some EUR 337,000.
Source: BNS
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