In Bukovina, ESBU prevented the "grey" import of Chinese electric cars: the case has been sent to court

 An attempt to import electric cars into Ukraine using forged documents and an undervalued cost has failed. Detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region have completed their investigation and sent an indictment to court regarding a representative of a foreign company. The man attempted to use a "grey" import scheme to artificially reduce the amount of customs duties.

The investigation established that the suspect prepared shipping documents with knowingly false information regarding the value of the cargo. He handed the forged invoices over to the carrier to be presented during customs clearance at the Porubne-Siret checkpoint.

However, the attempt to "save money" failed. During the inspection of the driver's cabin, employees of the Chernivtsi customs discovered hidden original documents indicating the real market price of the cars—about 1 million UAH each.

During the search, ESBU detectives seized both the electric cars themselves and the cargo truck-trailer unit along with the car hauler platform used to transport the goods across the customs border.

Currently, the representative of the Chinese company has been notified of suspicion of committing a criminal offense provided for by part 1 of article 222 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (providing knowingly false information to state authorities for the purpose of obtaining tax benefits). The case has been sent to the court.

Procedural guidance is exercised by the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office.

We note that according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed 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 of guilty.