[Summary translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Officials of PJSC Poltava Mining and Processing Plant will be tried for evading over 1.2 billion UAH in taxes, 13 May 2024

Officials of PJSC Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (part of Ferrexpo Group) are facing criminal charges for major tax evasion.

Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BEB) uncovered that s enior officials at PJSC Poltava GOK—specifically the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Accountant—intentionally evaded taxes and issued knowingly false official documents.

During the investigation, BEB found that the officials falsified data in company documents related to the calculation of royalty payments for subsoil use, particularly for iron ore extraction.
In tax declarations, the company underreported the value and volume of products, listing them as crushed ore (unprocessed) instead of enriched products, which lowered the royalty payment amounts.

As a result, over 1.2 billion UAH in taxes were not paid to the State Budget of Ukraine.

Both officials have been formally charged under the Criminal Code of Ukraine for: large-scale tax evasion (Part 3, Article 212), conspiracy to commit a crime (Part 2, Article 28), forging official documents by an official (Part 1, Article 366).