Analysts of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine exposed a scheme of illegally obtaining value added tax refunds due to fictitious employment of persons with disabilities at enterprises.

ESBU has identified 7 related economic entities in the activities of which risks of unjustified VAT reimbursement in the amount of UAH 500 million can be traced.

In order to minimize and eliminate threats to the economic security of Ukraine from the activities of the mentioned enterprises, during 2022-2023, analysts of the ESBU sent recommendations to the State Tax Service regarding the verification of the reliability of the calculation of the amounts of the budget VAT refund.

In addition, in the course of the pre-trial investigation, detectives of the ESBU established that officials of a number of companies under the leadership of a Kyiv resident had for a long time submitted known false information to state authorities about the number of employed persons with disabilities. In this way they unjustifiably received the opportunity to use tax benefits.

In order to prevent law enforcement agencies from documenting illegal activities, office premises used to store primary documents of the financial and economic activities of enterprises and other evidence of the commission of a criminal offense are disguised as places of attorney activity.

The pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on the grounds of criminal offenses provided for in Part 2 of Art. 205-1, Part 3 of Art. 212, Part 2 of Art. 222, Part 2 of Art. 366, Part 2 of Art. 15, Part 5 of Art. 191, Part 3 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is carried out by detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine under the procedural guidance of prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor general.