“NABU claims that in 2023, a group of people organized the illegal shipment of cigarettes across the border to the EU. Among the suspects are the former head of the DPSU, the head of the checkpoint department and a former official”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to the press service of the bureau, among the suspects are the former head of the State Border Service, the head of the DPSU checkpoint department and a former DPSU official.
NABU claims that in 2023, a group of people organized the illegal shipment of cigarettes across the state border of Ukraine to the EU – this was facilitated by the top officials of the State Border Service, for which they regularly received illegal benefits. According to the investigation, between July and November 2023 alone, border guards received at least 204,000 euros in illegal benefits for the unimpeded passage of 68 cars – 3,000 euros for each vehicle.
According to the anti-corruption bureau, to hide their activities, they used vehicles registered in the Czech Republic and Austria, on which they installed special number plates similar to diplomatic ones.
“Passengers of such cars were holders of diplomatic passports – members of the families of Ukrainian diplomats in Europe. The presence of such passengers made it possible to avoid inspection of cars by border and customs authorities of EU countries. At the same time, the detectives established that top officials of the State Border Service previously served together with diplomats, whose relatives later became participants in this scheme,” the NABU states.
The bureau does not specify the names of the suspects, but earlier today the publication “Ukrainian Pravda” reported with reference to its sources that the former head of the State Border Service Serhiy Deineka was being searched.
Neither Deineka nor DPSU have commented on NABU’s report so far.
Until the beginning of January, Deineka headed the State Border Service.
On January 4, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Klymenko, announced that Deineko was appointed as an adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and after a “short rehabilitation” he would be appointed as the commander of a combat unit of the DPSU.
Serhiy Deyneko was appointed head of the State Border Service of Ukraine in June 2019. He has been working in the border service system since 1996.