$3.8 millions of cash were found in the bag of the head of Tax service of Luhansk region in Yanukovich times Aleksander Antipov. The main military prosecutor Anatoly Matios has claimed about it at the briefing.  

‘Now we’re carrying out the special operation on the involvement of the first leaders and deputies of the 15 regional departments of the Ministry of Income and fees to the so-called ‘tax sites’. As a result the state lost 97 billion UAH (~3.69 billions)’, Matios claimed.

According to his words, $3.8 mln were found in the bag of the head of ex-Tax Administration of Luhansk region Antipov and carryon was with him.

MIA Minister Arsen Avakov has reported about the detention of Aleksander Antipov too. He posted photo of bag content at his Facebook page.

‘This is just what Mr. Antipov, detained during the largest joint operation of the National Police and the military prosecutor’s office, had with him, so to speak, a little bit to waste’, Avakov wrote.

The Minister noted that Aleksander Nikolaevich Antipov was detained in the order of art. 208 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

‘He is listed as the former governor of the Lugansk region, and later the head of the regional administration of the tax administration and the head of the Municipal Administration of the Ministry of Income in the materials of the same criminal case. What will be incriminated for him and his buddies (dozens of ex-officials of Tax Administration and prosecutors, who were supposed to suppress criminal schemes)? The зarticipation in the scheme developed by the former Minister of the Ministry of Incomes and fees Klimenko’, the MIA head reports.

According to the words of Minister, it was the scheme of the control under all converting centers in the country, which allowed to enterprises to evade taxes for billions.

‘Certainly, these taxes were paid anyway, but not only to state budget, but in budgets of state officials – highest, minister and his patrons. But there was something at the places too, as we can judge by searches. As of today the established amount of damage from the work of ‘sites’ is 96 billions of UAH (~$3.65 billions). But investigation is continuing’, Avakov notes.

‘1700 cops and 500 military prosecutors are acted in the operation. At the same time 454 searches are carrying out. 25 case figurants were detained. They were, in view of the scale of the crime, delivered to Kyiv by helicopters in the special center, where they get the notification of suspicion and from where they are sent to court.

Detentions, searches and other operative actions are held in 15 regions of Ukraine. The investigation doesn’t permit the promulgation of how many citizens are in the list of suspects, as well as to name the names of detainees before the court’s decision’, the Minister added.