Court finds no guilt and closes case on false tax return of former SBU Chief of Mykolaiv Oblast

The Tsentralnyi District Court of Mykolaiv found no intent to submit false information in a tax return of Vitalii Hersak, the former Head of the SBU in Mykolaiv Oblast, and closed the relevant administrative proceedings, as reported on the website of the court.

As previously reported, the NACP found inaccurate information in the tax return of Vitalii Hersak, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Mykolaiv Oblast, and sent a substantiated opinion to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

According to the court records, the official indicated his wife's income in the amount of UAH 600,000 in the tax return, while she declared her income in the amount of UAH 796,625. The difference between the statements amounted to UAH 196,625.

The prosecutor requested that Hersak be imposed a fine on within the sanction provided for by the article (from UAH 17,000 to UAH 42,500).

In court, Hersak explained that he had stated information in his 2019 annual tax return about his wife's income in the amount of UAH 600,000 based on the information she provided. He allegedly did not have any intention to conceal or provide false information. The court notes that these explanations were not refuted by the case file and the prosecutor in the court hearing.

In addition, the court took into account that the absence of a corruption component in the latter's actions was further confirmed by the information provided by the Main State Tax Service in the city of Kyiv upon the request of the NACP, according to which the ex-official's wife, while carrying out her entrepreneurial activities, filed the tax return for 2019, where she declared an income of UAH 796,625.

Therefore, the court ruled to close the proceedings in the case of committing an administrative offence against the former Head of the SBU in the oblast due to the absence of an administrative offence in his acts under Part 4 of Art. 172-6 of the Code of Administrative Offences.