In 2015, the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt sold approximately 180 deciliters of ethyl alcohol to foreign companies at dumping prices. Losses amounted to over $1 million.
This became known from the ruling of the Solomensky Court of Kyiv dated August 5, 2016, posted in the Unified Register of Court Decisions.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine opened a criminal investigation on February 17, 2016, into abuses of power by officials of a state-owned enterprise (Part 2, Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to criminal case documents, in 2015, the management of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt exported 178 deciliters of ethyl alcohol worth a total of $503, excluding excise tax and value-added tax.
Companies to which, according to documents, Ukrspirt sold the goods:
Winning Invest & Trade Ltd (UK) for $99,750 (at $7/dl.,
GOLIW TRADING LLP (UK) for $66,500 (at $7/dl)
Winglex Inter LP (UK) for $58,900 (at $6.20/dL),
Ethyl Chemicals (Republic of Latvia) for $229,208 (at $2.50/dL),
Caucastrading Ltd (Georgia) for $33,250 (at $7/dl),
VPG POLAND Limited (Poland) in the amount of 12,738.76 (at a price of $2,5/dal).
At the same time, NABU materials state that the actual recipients of the alcohol (according to export declarations) were other foreign legal entities.
Preliminary conclusions of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau: if the price of alcohol were sold with excise tax and VAT included, the cost of 1 decaliter of alcohol on the Ukrainian market would average 860 UAH (35 USD/dl).
"As a result of the above-mentioned contracts with non-residents at reduced prices, the State Enterprise Ukrspirt did not receive $1,32 million for the products sold, which, taking into account the change in the exchange rate in 2015, amounts to approximately 33 million hryvnias excluding excise tax and value-added tax.
As previously reported by the First Instance, in February 2016, Kyiv's Pechersky Court imposed a derisory fine on a Kyiv resident whose company, Ukrspirt, funneled 114 million hryvnias through fictitious transactions.
A man previously convicted of drug possession found himself in the dock. As it turned out, just a month after the verdict, in May 2015, he was approached by unidentified individuals who offered him a deal.
For a fee of 1400 hryvnias, he was supposed to register the company "Building Industry" in his name. The offer was welcomed. The Kyiv resident gave them his passport and identification code to re-register the company in his name.
The new "participant" was accepted as a founding member of Building Industry and appointed director. The court had no doubts about the investigation's findings: the Kyiv resident never engaged in any further business activity. The pseudo-businessman handed over the registration and charter documents to his "trustees." Periodically, they merely asked their new acquaintance to sign certain documents, the names of which are not specified in the court documents. It was also stated that the unknown individuals to whom the defendant delegated control of "his" company used the enterprise to minimize tax liabilities and unjustifiably accrue tax credits for the company and its counterparties.
Specifically, they managed to conclude corn sales deals with the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt on behalf of Building Industry. As a result, the state-owned enterprise transferred 114,2 million hryvnias to the shell company and unjustifiably issued a value-added tax credit. At the trial, the defendant did not "give in" his patrons, but noted that he "sincerely repents of his actions and has drawn the appropriate conclusions."
At the court hearing, it was deemed inappropriate to examine the evidence in the case, since "the factual circumstances are not disputed by anyone and there are no doubts about the voluntariness and truthfulness of the positions of the participants in the legal proceedings." The court qualified the Kyiv resident's actions—aiding and abetting a fictitious business—under Part 1 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. His sincere remorse earned him a lenient sentence of 8,500 hryvnias (approximately $1,000).
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!