Ukrainian defence supplier's accountant caught with €4.7m in tax evasion inquiry

The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine revealed €4.7 million in cash. The money was found with an accountant working for a company supplying products to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The company she worked for is suspected of evading due taxes.

The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine discovered €4.7 million in cash at a company supplying the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The money was being transported by the company’s accountant, who kept it in her car.

The woman could not explain the origin of such a large sum of money. According to the Economic Security Bureau, the company for which the accountant works is suspected of large-scale tax evasion.

The investigation concerns companies supplying products to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, which were suspected of evading due taxes. Detectives from the Economic Security Bureau in the Kyiv region discovered and secured over €4.7 million in cash as part of this investigation.

Earlier findings indicate that in 2022-2023, this company supplied the Ministry of Defence with products worth ₴14.5 billion (approximately £320 million), taking full advantage of maximum tax reliefs. As reported by the Bureau, during the investigation, several fictitious transactions were revealed involving purchasing and delivering food products from companies controlled by the company. These were intended to conceal the actual flow of money and evade taxation.

In this way, to register as a company benefiting from tax reliefs and simultaneously protecting the quality of its goods, the company immediately recorded expenses related to the tax reliefs. This enabled them to evade paying taxes on a large scale.

Detectives searched the companies' headquarters and homes of those suspected of involvement in the scheme. During these actions, accounting records and other documents that may serve as evidence in the case were obtained.