SBI officer notified of suspicion

On Nov. 11, 2022, NABU and SAPO notified a senior investigator of the Mykolaiv Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation of suspicion. His actions fall under Part 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As established, in March 2022, a person was trying to smuggle USD 716,000 across a border checkpoint in the Odesa region. While a custom officer was drawing up a protocol, which provided for the withdrawal of funds, a senior SBI investigator arrived at the scene. He intervened in the process and withdrew the funds without any legal grounds. Subsequently, the suspected official illegally returned the confiscated money to the owner.

At the end of July, the court found the man guilty of violating the customs rules under Part 1 of Art. 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine, and fined him almost UAH 21 million with confiscation of the seized USD 716,000. Subsequently, this decision was confirmed by the appeal.

However, it was impossible to fulfill the court's decision to confiscate the seized money as it had already been returned to the owner.

The detectives of the National Bureau started the investigation of the mentioned facts on their own initiative.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered non-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.