Almost UAH 4 million earned on sale of "humanitarian" cars for Armed Forces: National Police detains organisers of criminal scheme in Bukovyna. PHOTO
Law enforcement officers in Chernivtsi region exposed the organiser and his accomplices who were importing and selling "humanitarian" vehicles intended for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by the press service of the National Police, Censor.NET informs.
Scheme of an illegal scheme
It was established that the fraudsters earned about UAH 3.5 million through a well-designed and prepared fraudulent scheme. The illegal scheme was organised by a citizen of another country.
He was responsible for finding cars in EU countries and negotiating the terms of sale with the owners. His accomplices were women and men over 60 years old. On the organiser's instructions, they picked up the cars and transported them to Ukraine.
"In order to avoid paying excise tax and customs duties, the cars were imported as humanitarian aid for a number of fictitious charitable foundations registered under false names. Later, the offenders sold the "humanitarian aid" for cash to both civilians and the military," the National Police said.
Detention and suspicion
As part of the criminal proceedings, the police collected evidence of the importation of 21 cars under this scheme.
Law enforcers detained the organiser while selling the SUV for $6,000.
Detectives of the BES Territorial Department in Chernivtsi region served him a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 204-1 (Smuggling of excisable goods) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The suspect was taken into custody for 60 days with the right to be released on UAH 1,748,523 bail. He faces up to eleven years in prison.
The police are continuing to collect evidence to serve notices of suspicion to other persons involved in the criminal scheme.
