Built using budget funds but failed to pay taxes: ESBU returned 23.5 million UAH in VAT to the state

 A construction enterprise that performed work using budget funds failed to pay over 23.5 million UAH in value-added tax. Thanks to the work of detectors from the Territorial Office of the ESBU in Kyiv, the entire amount has been returned to the state budget.

The pretrial investigation established that the enterprise had been repairing bridges on highways of national importance for five years. In addition, it installed protection at critical infrastructure facilities. The work was performed at the request of a state institution.

In 2025, the enterprise received over 141 million UAH in budget funds for these works. However, the received funds were not reflected in the VAT tax reporting, and tax invoices were not registered. As a result of these actions, more than 23.5 million UAH in value-added tax did not enter the state budget.

The violations were detected by analysts of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in Kyiv during information-analytical work. They established the risks of tax evasion and prepared an analytical product, which became the basis for starting a pretrial investigation.

In the course of the investigation, detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in Kyiv, together with specialists from the bodies of the State Tax Service, confirmed the amount of damages caused to the state budget.

Even before the director of the enterprise was notified of suspicion, the company transferred more than 23.5 million UAH of unpaid VAT to the state budget and fully compensated for the damages caused.

The actions of the head of the enterprise were qualified under part 3 of article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of taxes, fees (mandatory payments), which resulted in the actual non-receipt of funds into the budget on an especially large scale).

In view of the full compensation for the damages caused to the state, a motion was sent to the court to release the suspect from criminal liability on the basis of part 4 of article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Procedural guidance in the criminal proceedings is exercised by prosecutors of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office.

The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine consistently works to ensure that funds that should have entered the budget are actually returned to the state. In this case, thanks to the work of detectives and analysts of the ESBU, the state budget received the full amount of the unpaid tax.

According to article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a criminal offense and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilty.