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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Member of Parliament from the Holos faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak analyzed 40 pages of rulings from the High Anti-Corruption Court and described how corruption currently "works" in the tax service using the example of Ternopil region. He reported three episodes: a fine, a price list, and a "tariff" for VAT refunds.
The deputy noted that in February in Ternopil region a scheduled inspection was taking place at the agricultural firm Kolos-2. The company director was summoned for a "talk" on the highway between Ternopil and Pidvolochysk. Tax officials indicated that violations totaling 19 million might be recorded, but for eight million that amount would be "much smaller." The director did not agree to that proposal.
Later there was a second meeting on the road, but this time the director was offered to pay a bribe not of eight but of five million hryvnias.
The director refused again. After that the tax office sent an assessment with violations totaling more than 19 million hryvnias. Soon after there was a third meeting between tax officials and the director, at which he was offered to pay three million and was told that next time they would inspect his neighboring company. 6 April the director turned to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine; NABU recorded all conversations, and the banknotes of the bribe were marked.
The firm disputed the assessment, and the tax service scheduled a new inspection and moved the negotiations to the Escorial bar, and the price to "resolve the issue" fell to 50 thousand euros. The company’s lawyer asked if it was possible to pay in two installments of 25 thousand euros each. The head of the Pidvolochysk taxpayer service sector, Oleg Nahirny, went to Ternopil to coordinate this "payment." The sector head thought the lawyer was asking for a discount of 25 thousand euros and told him that this amount had been agreed in Ternopil. However, later he advised the lawyer to pay 50 thousand euros instead. 28 April this amount was handed not to the tax officials but to a man who "exchanges currency by hand." The man took 25 thousand euros and began walking around the bus station in Ternopil offering people an "exchange."
Two days later the tax officials sent a new assessment stating that instead of violations of 19 million, there would be only five million.
Zheleznyak told of another case in which tax officials extorted money from a business. It concerns the firm Agrobiostandart. In the so-called "price list" it is stated that the firm would be fined no more than 1,2 million, but it is necessary to pay two pluses, that is 50 thousand euros. The lawyer asked for a "payment plan," but he was refused. The client was invited twice to the office of the deputy head of the regional tax office. She stated that the "issue" is resolved through the sector head. In June two tranches of 25 thousand euros arrived.
Zheleznyak emphasizes that the tax officials promised the fine would not exceed 1,2 million. The client received a fine in the amount of 1 199 604 hryvnias (a difference of 396 hryvnias).
The third episode concerns the firm Geomine. This company is awaiting a VAT refund of 16 million hryvnias. For this, the tax officials set a tariff: for 12% the money will arrive in a month, and for 10% — in four months, and to unblock invoices you need 1,5% of the volume. For refusal — 11%. Later management agreed to 11,5%. 21 July the deputy head of the Ternopil regional tax service tells the lawyer the date 14 August when the money should arrive. 14 August the treasury transfers 14 656 006 hryvnias to the firm. 2 September at the stadium in Pidvolochysk the firm is issued an invoice for 1 832 000 in any currency. 9 September the tax officials receive 37 900 dollars and 147 thousand hryvnias. That same day deputy head of the Ternopil regional tax service Maria Melnyk is detained and the money is seized.
As previously reported, 15 September the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office exposed a scheme in the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Ternopil region for extorting bribes from businesses. The deputy head of the department and the head of one of the territorial divisions were finding violations for large sums of money and offering to reduce the size of fines. They were detained and informed of suspicion.
9 September NABU agents conducted searches at the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Ternopil region. Officially the reason for the searches was not named, but local media then suggested that the current head of the Ternopil regional tax administration, Olga Lishchynska, might be connected to the "Carthage" case regarding the "covering" of call centers by employees of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Image above: the same bribes. Photo: NABU
"Argument"
On this topic:
NABU exposed tax officials in Ternopil region: 75 thousand euros in bribes, 11,5% "kickback"
"Carthage": two prosecutors were dismissed in Cherkasy, including Kropyva’s sister
How the "Carthage" case and the "lawlessness" in the OPG and SFS contributed to exposing a conversion center for 23,5 billion hryvnias
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Корупція в тернопільській податковій: штрафи, прейскурант і "тариф" на повернення ПДВ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: argumentua.com.
