Former head of the tax service sentenced for bribery committed ten years ago

Former head of the tax service sentenced for bribery committed ten years ago

The Kamin-Kashyrskyi District Court of the Volyn Region found the former head of the local tax inspection guilty of receiving undue benefit.

This became known from the verdict of the Kamin-Kashyrskyi District Court of the Volyn Region on August 6, reports Sudovyi Reporter.

According to the prosecution’s version, in July-August 2025, the official demanded and received a bribe from an entrepreneur for not being held accountable for violations of labor legislation. The tax officer allegedly informed the entrepreneur that he faced a fine of 50 thousand hryvnias, but he could avoid paying it by giving a bribe of 1 thousand hryvnias and subsequently providing 5 thousand hryvnias monthly for avoiding inspections.

The entrepreneur paid one thousand hryvnias and then filed a crime report with law enforcement agencies. Subsequently, police officers documented how the entrepreneur handed over three thousand hryvnias to the official for not conducting inspections.

The accused denied the charges and claimed provocation. He admitted that the entrepreneur brought money to his office, which he absentmindedly moved to another table. However, he insisted that it was not a bribe, but a fee for a developer’s certificate to allow wood to be registered at the forestry without participating in an auction. 

In 2017, the local court issued a verdict of 5 years and 6 months imprisonment. The appellate court canceled this decision, as it concluded that the first instance failed to verify some of the defence’s arguments regarding provocation.

The entrepreneur was involved in wood processing. A few months before the tax chief was exposed, the entrepreneur himself had problems with law enforcement. In January 2015, the police seized his truck loaded with wood due to lack of documents. Later, the man provided the necessary documents, and the criminal case was closed. It turned out the wood was sold to him by the brother-in-law of a senior officer of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. This officer later participated in operations against the tax officer, leading the defence to claim the applicant was connected to the police.

For the second time, the court again passed a guilty verdict. According to the court, law enforcement agencies only joined the case to document and investigate at a certain stage.

The witness reported the demand for an undue benefit when the first episode of criminal activity had already occurred, — after he had transferred 1 thousand hryvnias. The court believes this disproves the defence’s arguments about provocation.