Odessa customs officer fined for extorting money from caviar smugglers

The Tarutino District Court found a senior state inspector at the Dnistrovskyi customs post of the Odesa Customs Office guilty of accepting an undue benefit for assisting in the illegal transport of black caviar across the border with Moldova at the August 1–Bessarabiazka checkpoint.

As noted in the court’s verdict, given the defendant’s sincere remorse, he was fined 66,300 UAH.

In October 2025, the official met with a fish transporter who complained about the length and strictness of customs inspections, and the defendant offered to help him. The assistance consisted of ensuring a quick and unimpeded passage through customs at the “Serpneve-1 – Bessarabiazka” checkpoint, and the official charged 100 USD for each kilogram of imported black caviar.

The client transported five and 10 kilograms of caviar across the border on two separate occasions and, accordingly, paid the customs officer 500 USD and 1,000 USD.

Earlier, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal refused to grant the appeal filed by the lawyers of the former head of the Odesa Customs Office, Mykhailo Hribanov. The lawyers for the former head of the customs office appealed the decision of the Chernihiv District Administrative Court, which had dismissed Mykhailo Hribanov’s claim challenging his dismissal as a customs officer.

In April, the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa found the former tax service employee guilty of extortion and receiving an unlawful benefit and sentenced him to five years in prison. The man was also barred from holding positions in law enforcement agencies involving the exercise of organizational, administrative, or executive authority for a period of two years, and all his property was confiscated.

Кирило Бойко