A scheme to circumvent anti-dumping duties through fictitious imports from Malaysia was operating in Ukraine
15 April 17:20
A scheme was operating in Ukraine that allowed importers to avoid paying anti-dumping duties on metal products by falsifying the country of origin. Goods that could actually have come from countries subject to trade restrictions were declared as imports from Malaysia based on forged documents, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the investigation, this is precisely the scheme that was uncovered by detectives from the Economic Security Bureau in collaboration with prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General. As reported by the Economic Security Bureau, the criminal investigation established that one of the companies organized the illegal import of metal products into Ukraine’s customs territory using forged certificates of origin.
According to investigators, the company submitted documents to customs authorities stating that the products allegedly originated from Malaysia, although the actual origin of the goods was concealed. This scheme allowed the company to avoid paying anti-dumping duties and a portion of tax payments.
The BEB notes that the scheme caused losses to the state budget exceeding 9.8 million UAH. The company’s director has already been notified of the charges.
However, the investigation did not result solely in criminal prosecution. The materials collected by the BEB were forwarded to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, after which they were taken into account by the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade during the review of the rules for applying anti-dumping restrictions.
As a result, anti-dumping measures were expanded: they will now apply not only to imports of the relevant products from China but also from Malaysia, as well as to cases where the origin of the goods is not confirmed by proper documentation.
“The Economic Security Bureau did not merely expose the evasion of anti-dumping duties—we shut down the scheme itself,” stated Alexander Tsivinsky, Director of the Economic Security Bureau.
Accordingly, the exposed scheme served as the basis for changes to state regulation of the metal products import market.
As a reminder, law enforcement previously uncovered a scheme involving the illegal production and sale of e-cigarette liquids, which had been operating in Ukraine since 2023.
