Ukraine’s SBU exposes illegal scheme for exporting luxury cars to Russia
Ukraine’s SBU security service and cyber experts have exposed a large-scale scheme to illegally export luxury cars to Russia, the security agency reported on May 5.
The SBU said a businessman from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, who previously lived in Russia and has a business there, was one of the scheme’s organizers.
Taking advantage of the fact that most of the world’s car companies had withdrawn from the Russian market, he set up an illegal scheme to transfer to Russia luxury cars, such as Rolls-Royce and Maybach, bypassing sanctions.
From August 2022 to March 2023, he shipped 45 cars worth over EUR 3 million to Russian customers, including representatives of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom’s top management and the RT propaganda television channel.
“To implement the scheme, the perpetrator bought premium vehicles at Ukrainian car dealerships and registered them for controlled commercial entities,” the SBU said.
“After that, using forged documents, he transported them in transit through the territory of the European Union to Belarus, and from there to Russia.”
The businessman also applied to Ukraine’s State Tax Service for VAT reimbursement for a total amount of over UAH 6 million ($164,075). The SBU exposed and blocked this scheme.
The SBU agents conducted searches at the suspect’s place of residence in Kyiv and Lviv and seized the property of the illegal scheme’s participants, which was worth over UAH 700 million ($19.1 million).
The list of seized assets includes:
• corporate rights to 17 enterprises;
• over 500 non-residential industrial premises in different Ukrainian regions, including in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea;
• 22 apartments in Kyiv and Lviv;
• almost three dozen land plots;
• over 40 luxury cars.
The businessman has been served with charge papers under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
• Part 1 of Art. 111-2 (assistance to the aggressor state);
• Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 2 of Art. 366 (official forgery);
• Part 5 of Art. 191 (appropriation of someone’s property by abuse by an official of his official position in particularly large amounts).
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