Kyiv. 28 February. INTERFAX-UKRAINE – Industrial and investment group “Aurum Group” reports on unfounded accusations against the manufacturer of freight cars “Diesel Plant” LLC (Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), on the premises of which the investigation team  of the Main Investigation Department of Financial Investigations of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine has executed search for more than twenty-four hours on the basis of a court ruling in connection with criminal proceedings opened last year.

“Despite the fact that the company immediately agreed to provide all the documents specified in the court ruling, the investigators without due reason continued to search at night,” as has been noted by the press release on Thursday evening.

Apart from that, the company believes that the statement of charges against the plant “does not stand up to scrutiny”.

As follows from the decision of the investigating judge of Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, provided by the press service of the group to the news agency “Interfax-Ukraine”, the search was based on the fact that, according to the investigator, “the members of the organized group, using details of enterprises with signs of fictitiousness, among which “Heron-Trade” and “Aurum Trans” LLC, provided unreasonable tax credit to enterprises in the real sector of the economy, namely, to “Diesel Plant” LLC and others, which led to the deliberate understatement of VAT and the actual non-receipt of funds in an especially large amount to the budget.”

The press service of “Aurum Group” is perplexed by the fact that the investigator ranked “Heron Trade”, which owns real estate with an area of more than 22 thousand square meters (leases space to “Diesel Plant”), and “Aurum Trans” with the staff of 50 employees and fixed assets worth UAH 350 million, among fictitious enterprises.

“Both enterprises have been operating for many years and paying taxes to the budget”, the group’s press service noted.

The court’s ruling also notes that another reason for accusing “Diesel Plant” of tax evasion of millions of dollars was that, according to the investigator, the plant does not put new wheelsets on manufactured rail cars, but only repairs old ones, however, its tax reporting shows the acquisition of new wheelsets purchased from counterparties.

“However, this can be easily verified according to the data of “Ukrzaliznytsia” – the plant was certified for the repair of freight cars only in September 2019, and a criminal case was initiated in June of that year. The plant does not repair wheelsets of freight cars, since it does not have the necessary equipment (wheel-roller workshop) and required permits. Such work is carried out by certified contractors of the plant – car repair depots of UZ, which is confirmed by primary documents and monitored in its database,” the press service said.

INTERFAX-UKRAINE