The Rzeszów Prosecutorʼs Office is investigating frauds involving Ukrainian grain in Poland. In two weeks, dozens of companies have already been established and several thousand tons of grain brought from Ukraine and sold, hiding its origin and final destination, have been discovered.
Rzeczpospolita writes about it.
The State Tax Administration has initiated customs and tax inspections of importers of so-called technical grain from Ukraine. They confirmed the violation.
The investigation established that Ukrainian technical grain imported to Poland almost did not pass border control — it was sold immediately after entering Poland. Well-known Polish flour producers were affected by the fraud.
Grain intended for industrial processing into other products (alcohol, starch, medical preparations, etc.) is called technical grain.
"We are currently conducting seven joint proceedings. In general, we are talking about several tons of grain, several dozens of subjects have been established. These are companies that imported goods to Poland, as well as those that then traded them," the spokeswoman for the prosecutorʼs office in Rzeszów Hanna Bernat-Lozanska noted.
The Ministry of Finance confirmed that the first 16 inspections of grain imports and five investigations into suspected fraud had begun.
- After the start of a full-scale war, the European Union canceled all tariffs and quotas for the transit of Ukrainian grain. Farmers from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia were reported to have lost €417 million due to the influx of Ukrainian grain into their markets.
- Already on April 15, Poland banned the import of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine, and also decided to introduce a ban on their transit there.
- Subsequently, a ban on imports was announced in Hungary and Slovakia, but they promised to maintain transit. The European Commission called the decisions of the three countries unacceptable. After the negotiations, Poland promised to resume grain transit. However, the European Commission agreed to ban the import of wheat, corn, rape and sunflower. The European Commission also decided to allocate an additional €100 million to help farmers who suffered losses.
- On May 2, the European Commission officially temporarily banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine. The ban will last until June 5, 2023. During this period, the mentioned goods can be imported to all EU countries, except Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. At the same time, Ukrainian products can be transited through their territory.