Case description
The NABU and SAPO accuse former First Deputy Head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, Serhii Bilan, of abuse of office, which caused losses to the state amounting to UAH 641 million.
Bilan served as Deputy Head of the SFS from May 2015 to December 2019.
While in office, Bilan commented on the work of the tax police and its efforts to combat financial crimes. In particular, he emphasized the importance of the state’s strategy to control the financial and tax sectors for effective reform. He also addressed the issue of liquidating conversion centers and the transfer of non-cash funds into cash.
According to the investigation, in 2014–2016, several officials at JSC Oschadbank abused their positions and applied a reduced tax rate on income from non-resident enterprises — instead of 15%, they applied a rate from 0 to 2% — and submitted the respective complaint to the SFS. Officials at the SFS, including Bilan, who was responsible for reviewing complaints from large taxpayers, deliberately delayed signing the decision on Oschadbank’s complaint. As a result, the complaint was automatically satisfied in favor of the taxpayer, in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine, and the state lost the opportunity to collect over UAH 641 million. Investigators believe this was not an accident but the result of collusion between SFS officials and officials at JSC Oschadbank.
According to NABU and SAPO, Bilan deliberately created the appearance of being unable to sign such a decision. However, in reality, he was the only authorized official at the SFS of Ukraine to sign decisions following the review of complaints from large taxpayers.
Serhii Bilan is currently charged with Article 364(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the statute of limitations in this case will expire in 2027, i.e., ten years after the alleged offense, unless there were circumstances that suspended or interrupted its course. Thus, there is less and less time left for a full judicial review. In our HACC monitoring report, we have already emphasized the need to improve the statute of limitations framework.
