OREANDA-NEWS Ukrainian diplomat, an employee of the embassy of one of the EU countries, was fined UAH 26.8 million (slightly more than $909 thousand) for trying to take money and valuables worth about $1 million out of the country. This is stated on the website of the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine.

On February 28, 2021, an employee of the Ukrainian embassy of one of the EU countries tried to travel abroad by minibus through the Yagodin automobile border crossing in the Volyn region on the border with Poland in the northwestern part of Ukraine.

«The bureau's investigators inspected the diplomatic minibus, in which almost €68 thousand, over $140 thousand, over 12 kg of gold bars, jewelry and gold with a total weight of 13.8 kg, as well as a large number of cigarettes were found and seized. The embassy employee tried to take all this abroad under the guise of diplomatic mail», the message says.

Money and valuables were seized, they were transferred to the budget and used for the needs of the armed forces. The court found the embassy employee guilty of an offense under Part 1 of Article 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine (movement or actions aimed at moving goods across the customs border of Ukraine with concealment from customs control). Violation of this article is punishable by a fine of up to 100% of the value of goods with confiscation of both goods and «means of transportation».