The total amount of bail posted by arrested former high-ranking tax officials is Hr 350 million, according to Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, who said the relatively small amount and guarantees given by several of those detained would be appealed in court.
“We have reviewed most of the measures taken against the former fiscal service executives. We managed to collect Hr 350 million in bail payments and seven former tax officials were arrested,” said Avakov, who appeared at Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on May 26.
Avakov said law-enforcement agencies would appeal pretrial rulings for “several individuals, from whom the courts extracted personal pledges and small bail amounts.”
Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said that in just three days 23 members of the Income and Tax Ministry branches were detained for the participation in a criminal organization and abuse of office. The court arrested 12 of them with an option of a bail, seven were released on bail, four suspects were released on personal recognizance.
The total amount of bail for the suspects determined by the court was Hr 336.128 million. During the searches, 23 cars, $5.5 million, Hr 3.7 million, more than 3 kg of gold, 20 paintings of the 18th-19th centuries, and more than 20 expensive watches were seized.
On May 24 morning, law-enforcement agencies conducted raids in 15 of Ukraine’s regions in a special anti-corruption operation targeting ex-officials of Ukraine’s former ministry of taxes and income headed by Oleksandr Klymenko [who fled to Russia following the Revolution of Dignity in early 2014].
