An indictment has been sent to court in respect of a former state inspector of the Ugryniv customs post of Lviv Customs, who is accused of carrying out a sham inspection of a minibus carrying goods. This was reported by the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the investigation, in September 2023 a RENAULT minibus arrived at the international checkpoint via the “red channel”. The automatic system flagged a smuggling risk, so the inspector was required to question the driver, call in staff from the anti-smuggling unit and ensure a proper customs inspection of the vehicle.
Instead, as the investigation established, the official merely pretended to carry out the inspection and deliberately concealed the presence of the goods. He then returned the documents to the driver, stamped the slip and allowed the vehicle to leave the customs control area. In this way, more than 5,000 packets of coffee of various brands were brought into Ukraine without payment of the mandatory customs charges.
As a result, the state budget failed to receive customs payments totalling over UAH 300,000. Since the minibus was travelling from Poland, Ukrainian law enforcement bodies sent requests for international legal assistance to the Polish authorities. Official documents received from the Polish side confirmed the volume of the cargo and the circumstances of its clearance, which formed the basis for notifying the former inspector of suspicion in June this year and the subsequent referral of the indictment to court.
The former customs officer is charged with abuse of office and official forgery under Part 1 of Article 364 and Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. During the pre-trial investigation conducted by the Territorial Office of the SBI based in Lviv, the damage caused to the state was fully compensated.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt has been proved in accordance with the law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.