SBU employees detained in Lviv region an officer of “Rava-Ruska" customs post on systematic extortion of bribes from car-owners.

Allegedly, the chief state inspector set up a corruption mechanism of customs clearance of means of transport. For UAH 1,000 (USD 40) per vehicle, the suspect facilitated fast-track customs clearance of transport, which crossed the Ukrainian border. The customs post capacity is 100 vehicles per day.

The law enforcement detained the inspector after receiving a regular bribe amounting to UAH 5,000 (USD 200) for customs clearance of several vehicles. During the search of the suspect’s office, the SBU seized UAH 30,000 more - the sum of money, which the suspect managed to “earn” for a few working hours. The illegally obtained UAH 220,000 (USD 10,000) were also seized by the law enforcement during the search of the suspect’s residence.

The inspector was served a notice of suspicion under Part 3 Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The custody was chosen as a form of detention.

The investigation is ongoing to establish whether other customs officials were involved into the scheme.

The operation was conducted by the SBU Main Directorate for Fighting Corruption and Organized Crime with the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations under the supervision of the General Prosecutor’s Office.