Gambling business withdrew 10 billion through Ibox Bank and Ukrgasbank
The gambling business during the war was able to bring “into the shadows” about 10 billion hryvnias of turnover per month. Yaroslav Zheleznyak, People’s Deputy from the Holos faction, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Tax and Customs Policy, announced this on Telegram, writes Ukrrudprom.
According to him, the relevant violations will be considered by the parliamentary VSK on tax evasion by the gambling business at its meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for February 28.
“The level of abuse is really shocking… For understanding, the state has not seen somewhere around UAH 10 billion per month of turnover. Previously, I estimated that we lost about UAH 8-10 billion in taxes per year, I think now the amount is much higher”, — wrote Zheleznyak.
According to him, not only online casinos, but also banks and retail chains are involved in tax minimization schemes in the gambling business. “Their main henchman is banks. Not all, but specific 9 banks that provided the service of “miscoding” and the withdrawal of this money. To put it simply: he ensured that the money from the player went to the casino account, but allegedly “for advertising services,” Zheleznyak explained.
He clarified that such a service was provided by one of the state-owned banks. “One state-owned bank took part in providing such a service for the gambling business. I will not write the name, but it is consonant with the word “gas”. Moreover, a lot of money was spent through it, ”the people’s deputy wrote, probably alluding to the state-owned Ukrgasbank.
“The second private bank is now actually the only one on the market so far, after law enforcement officers paid attention to this scheme and continues to actively provide such a service. According to the information we have, this is UAH 250-300 million per day,” Zheleznyak added, probably hinting at ibox bank“.
According to the court register, Ibox Bank is currently challenging in courts the decision of the Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission (CRAIL) to order an inspection and received a court decision to ban its license to provide services in the field of gambling.
Zheleznyak stressed that he would appeal to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) with a call to take measures to influence the banks involved in this scheme.
As reported, on February 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law repealing the norm adopted in mid-April last year, which allowed the gambling business to switch to a simplified taxation system, paying only 2% of the single tax.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Daniil Getmantsev admitted that due to the introduction of tax incentives for the gambling business at the beginning of the Russian aggression, the state lost billions of hryvnias. At the same time, the key problem of the gambling business, according to Getmantsev, is not even in the benefits that he enjoyed for almost a year, but in systemic tax evasion using electronic payment technologies.
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