Fictitious companies, millions in black cash, and virtual assets: ESBU exposed a large-scale conversion center in the Kyiv region

 A large-scale conversion center, through which shadow settlements were carried out in the agricultural sector, was exposed by detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Kyiv region together with Cyberpolice operatives. Dozens of controlled companies were involved in the illegal scheme, and the proceeds were converted into cash and virtual assets.

The investigation established that the suspects used a network of over 60 controlled enterprises with signs of fictitiousness. Through these companies, they helped enterprises of the real sector of the economy to conceal income and evade paying taxes.

The scheme operated in the field of agricultural products trade. They were purchased from producers for cash, without reflecting these transactions in accounting and tax records. In order to further sell the goods in Ukraine or export them, the suspects drew up documents on behalf of controlled companies with false information about the origin, value, and characteristics of the products.

In this way, a fictitious origin history was created for the agricultural products, and the funds from their sale were withdrawn into shadow circulation. This allowed for the concealment of real income and the reduction of tax amounts due to the budget.

The participants of the scheme converted part of the received funds into virtual assets, attempting to hide their origin and evade financial monitoring.

Currently, the pretrial investigation is ongoing. ESBU detectives are establishing the full circle of involved individuals and enterprises that could have used the services of the conversion center, as well as investigating the movement and origin of the funds.

Operational support was provided by employees of the Cyberpolice Department of the National Police of Ukraine. Procedural guidance is carried out by prosecutors of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

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