4 billion hryvnias in damages: underground alcohol production was exposed in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security have uncovered a group of individuals who organized illegal alcohol production with industrial-scale equipment in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The estimated damage due to unpaid excise tax and VAT amounts to approximately 4 billion UAH, as reported on the department's website.

"Approximately 20 tons of alcohol were illegally produced daily. Through an underground pipeline approximately 1 km long, the illegally produced products were pumped into a equipped alcohol storage," the statement reads.

Currently, investigative actions are ongoing, with employees from the Department of Control over Excisable Goods of the State Tax Service being involved. The BEB detectives have confiscated 113 tons of illegally produced alcohol and the equipment that constitutes an integrated property complex, encompassing all stages of the technological process of alcohol production.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal case, based on the signs of criminal offenses provided for in Article 204(1), Article 204(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal production, storage, sale, or transportation for the purpose of selling excisable goods) and Article 212(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of tax payment), is being conducted by detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine and procedural guidance from the prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Recently, BEB detectives exposed the officials of one of the companies in Kyiv Oblast, who had been organizing illegal alcohol production since 2019. Subsequently, they sold it to other business entities as ethanol, both within and outside the customs territory of Ukraine. Approximately 170 tons of alcohol with a value of over 67.5 million UAH were seized.