Ukraine uncovers new scheme for illegal soybean exports worth $2 mln

A shipment of soybeans worth $2 million was intercepted at the port of Pivdennyi in an alleged illegal export scheme, according to Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s finance, tax and customs committee.

“This is another attempt by fraudsters to export ‘black grain’ using falsified documents and ‘cover goods’ or customs regimes other than export. It failed! I thank the Bureau of Economic Security for detecting the illegal shipment of 5,400 tons of soybeans worth $2 million through the port of Pivdennyi,” Hetmantsev wrote.

Odesa Customs on August 12 cleared a vessel carrying the soybeans under the customs regime “Processing outside the customs territory.”

MP Marian Zablotsky said that on Tuesday, several media outlets reported that the little-known company Altex Grupp LLC had allegedly found a loophole to export corn and soybeans to AL TAZAMAIDAN FZ — LLC.

“I can confirm that Altex Grupp LLC is attempting to export suspicious volumes of soybeans. I see no other crops in the customs declarations at the moment. While the media reported 6,000 tonnes, I see customs clearance for 100,000 tons worth UAH 1.5 billion. And there has not been a single tax invoice in the past three years confirming the purchase of soybeans by this exporter. This gives grounds to believe the operations are conducted under dubious schemes,” he said.

Zablotsky added that when a new agricultural export scheme emerges in Ukraine, “you can almost certainly guess it is about this crop” — soybeans.