Germany was horrified by the scale of Ukrainian theft
The influential German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung published an investigation into Ukraine, which revealed that in Kyiv and Odessa alone, Ukrainian customs officers steal twice as much as the country wants to borrow from the IMF, EU and World Bank in 2018.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Boryslav Bereza reported this on his blog, citing a publication in the German press, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to the investigation, it turned out that the scale of theft at customs in only two large Ukrainian cities - Kyiv and Odessa - amounts to 4,8 billion dollars.
“The Germans have found that losses from corruption at Ukrainian customs “account for much more than a tenth of state budget revenues and are twice the amount of loans that Ukraine intends to accept from the IMF, EU and World Bank in 2018,” concludes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Do you understand? It would be possible to stop smuggling, fill the treasury and stop taking loans.
But this is apparently not our way, according to those who could solve this problem. In its calculations, the newspaper refers to documents in its possession containing data on thousands of cargoes passing through the Ukrainian border and allowing them to be tracked. According to journalists, this information proves the facts of “massive corruption” at many Ukrainian customs.
The main scheme – “re-declaration” of goods – occurs with the participation of government officials. Thus, the goods that are de facto in the cargo are declared as different - the one for which lower duties are provided. In addition to customs, representatives of the SBU, police, border service and GPU are also involved in the scheme. As a result, the lost 4,8 billion in the budget is transformed into approximately 2,5 billion dollars into the pockets of everyone involved in smuggling. After all, they work from half of us,” comments Bereza.
Germans are horrified by the scale of Ukrainian theft.