Paid over UAH 10 million in taxes and avoided trial: how the new ESBU mechanism will work

 The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine is working on introducing a mechanism for the pre-trial settlement of tax criminal offenses. Its goal is to create conditions under which a taxpayer can voluntarily reimburse the damages caused to the state during the pre-trial investigation phase, and after fulfilling the conditions specified by law, the criminal proceedings can be closed.

The practical viability of such a mechanism is confirmed by the results of the work carried out by detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Odesa region.

During the pre-trial investigation, they established that an entrepreneur, who sold flowers through a network of retail and wholesale stores in Odesa and Kyiv, organized a tax evasion scheme through the so-called "splitting" of business operations. He involved over 60 individuals in the activity, and the funds from product sales were funneled into the accounts of more than 30 controlled sole proprietorships. As a result, over UAH 10 million in taxes was not remitted to the budget.

During the pre-trial investigation, the entrepreneur fully reimbursed the damages caused to the state, voluntarily transferred UAH 1 million to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and brought the enterprise's activities into compliance with legislative requirements. Based on Part 4 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court released him from criminal liability.

It is precisely such examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of the voluntary restitution mechanism, serving as one of the foundations for the ESBU to develop legislative amendments on introducing the pre-trial settlement of tax criminal offenses.

The proposed mechanism will allow taxpayers to voluntarily compensate for the damages caused to the state as early as the pre-trial investigation stage. This will contribute to a more rapid replenishment of the budget, reduce the burden on the criminal justice system, de-shadow the economy, and create conditions for businesses to return to transparent activities.

The ESBU consistently supports an approach where the priority is not criminal prosecution, but rather the reimbursement of damages to the state, ensuring a level playing field for doing business, and protecting the economic interests of Ukraine.