Sugar worth 439 mln UAH was concealed behind a company under a proxy owner: the budget missed out on over 73 mln UAH in VAT

 An agricultural enterprise from the Kharkiv region sold sugar outside the official accounting, as a result of which the budget missed out on over 73 million UAH in value-added tax. To conceal the real sales volumes, the suspects documentarily transferred the products to a company registered under a proxy owner. The case has already been forwarded to court.

Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Poltava region established that within two years, the enterprise purchased over 20 thousand tons of sugar. The acquisition of the products was reflected in the accounting and tax records, but they were subsequently sold for cash without being reflected in the official reporting and without the payment of due taxes.

To conceal the real volumes of business operations, the founders of the enterprise, a father and son, together with the executive director, created a separate company and registered it under a proxy person. The sugar was documentarily transferred to the balance sheet of this company, concealing its actual sale and reducing the tax liabilities of the enterprise.

In total, the enterprise purchased over 20 thousand tons of sugar worth about 439 million UAH. Due to the concealment of a part of the operations, the budget missed out on over 73 million UAH in VAT.

The two founders of the enterprise are accused of organizing intentional tax evasion in especially large amounts (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Also, all three suspects were notified of suspicion of forging documents for the state registration of a legal entity by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The indictment has been sent to court.

Procedural guidance is carried out by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office. Operational support—the Department of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region and the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in the Kharkiv region.

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.