The Odessa Customs Office has uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme that caused losses of over 215 million hryvnias to the Ukrainian budget in July 2025 alone. According to preliminary data, the organizer of the transaction was the Deputy Chief of the Customs Office for Customs Payments, Vitaliy Zvarych, who allegedly developed a mechanism for circumventing export security.
The government introduced this system in the fall of 2024 to fill the budget and support the army. However, the official used it for his own interests.
The scheme worked through the customs regime of “processing outside the customs territory.” According to the documents, the goods were registered as being sent for processing in other countries, so that taxes and duties were not levied on them. In reality, the products never returned to Ukraine, but were sold on the world market.
In just one month, two large consignments of soybeans were processed through this mechanism from ALTEX GROUP LLC to a company in the UAE. The first was 60,000 tons worth $22 million, the second was 40,000 tons worth $15 million.
Additional resonance was caused by the participation of the vessel ALAA M, which repeatedly transported soybeans of dubious origin. It turned out that it entered the port of Odessa without proper checks and even arrived from the temporarily occupied Crimea. Such inaction of the customs authorities caused indignation, because at the height of the war, Ukraine actually allowed the possibility of illegal supplies from territories controlled by the enemy.
Despite the high-profile scandal, the leadership of Odessa Customs is trying to distance itself from responsibility. Internal commissions are being created to "verify the facts," which is more like an attempt at whitewashing than a real investigation.
