Under the procedural guidance of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the head of a private agricultural enterprise has been notified of suspicion of intentional tax evasion in particularly large amounts (Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to the investigation, the head of the private agricultural enterprise, having full control over its activities and being responsible for compliance with tax legislation, organized a scheme to evade VAT payments.

In 2021–2023, the enterprise purchased over 20 thousand tons of sugar for more than 439 million UAH, including over 73 million UAH in VAT. The goods were sold "in the shadows" — without being reflected in the accounting and tax reporting. At the same time, the enterprise had neither warehouses for storing such a quantity of sugar nor contracts for its transportation or storage.

Tax liabilities for VAT amounting to over 73 million UAH were not accrued or paid, which led to the actual non-receipt of funds into the state budget.

The detection and documentation of illegal activities were carried out jointly with detectives from the Territorial Department of the Bureau of Economic Security in the Poltava region and employees of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.