Tax evasion scheme worth hundreds of millions exposed in Odesa

A court in Odesa upheld the seizure of property in a tax evasion case. The investigation found that the company entered into contracts with the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority for UAH 155 million and could have underpaid taxes by tens of millions.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Kyiv District Court of Odesa.

The judge refused to cancel the seizure of a mobile phone and flash drives seized during a search in a criminal proceeding for tax evasion on a large scale.

The motion to cancel the arrest was filed by a lawyer on behalf of the property owner. He insisted that the investigation had had enough time to extract the necessary information from the devices in nine months and argued that there were no grounds for their further storage under arrest. In his opinion, the mobile phone and data storage devices are neither the object nor the instrument of a criminal offense. In turn, the prosecutor stated that the seized devices contained information important to the investigation.

According to the investigation, the owner of the property worked as an accountant and could have stored information on the media confirming tax evasion schemes. He insisted that canceling the arrest would create risks of destroying or altering evidence.

According to the case file, the investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Economic Security in Odesa region under Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (tax evasion on a large scale). The proceedings were opened after an analytical audit of the activities of Metaproekt LLC, which has entered into dozens of contracts with USPA branches for more than UAH 155 million since 2021.

The analysis also showed that some of the materials and goods purchased by Metproekt LLC from its suppliers did not reach the buyers and were not used in the company's operations. These include synthetic fabric, solar modules and other goods worth more than UAH 68 million, which actually disappeared from the supply chain and could have been sold off the books and tax records. This could have resulted in a VAT understatement of almost UAH 14.2 million.

In addition, the company declared relationships with controlled companies for more than UAH 30 million, which, according to the prosecution, has signs of fictitious transactions and could have led to additional VAT evasion. The court ruled that the seizure of the property remains in force.

Also, detectives of the BES Territorial Department in Odesa region submitted to the court an indictment against two executives of a construction company suspected of evading more than UAH 85 million in tax. They had been abroad for a long time, but were detained by detectives at a checkpoint on their way back to Ukraine.

Анна Бальчінос