Tax evasion is a path to the dock

It is not uncommon for individual entrepreneurs or private legal entities, in pursuit of personal enrichment, to attempt to circumvent the law by evading certain tax payments to the state budget.

Ultimately, they become defendants in criminal cases, as the prosecution authorities stand guard over legality, overseeing and coordinating the activities of financial investigation bodies, including within the framework of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Operational-Investigative Activities".

The "hidden" violations of tax legislation are rather quickly transformed over time into crimes against the established order of economic activity, which become apparent to the prosecutor, who is authorized to issue instructions for conducting checks within the framework of operational-investigative activities in accordance with the criminal procedure code and initiating criminal cases if grounds exist.

This is precisely what happened with a group of 4 "businessmen" from the city of Vitebsk, who, acting as a group of individuals by prior conspiracy, organized a criminal scheme to evade taxes by obtaining unjustified benefits provided for by a special tax regime, with the aim of understating revenue, as well as not reflecting profit tax and VAT in accounting and tax records, thereby causing damage to the state in the amount of more than 1 million rubles.

Taking into account the established facts during operational-investigative activities, upon the instruction of the regional prosecutor's office, the Department of Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus for the Vitebsk Region initiated a criminal case in June 2023 against 4 individuals under Part 3 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code, qualified as evasion of taxes and duties on a particularly large scale.

Also, upon the instruction of the regional prosecutor's office, in order to ensure the compensation of damages to the state by the defendants in the criminal case, their property has been seized, including land plots, warehouse and garage premises, deposits and accounts in 3 banks. In addition, 24 real estate objects (houses and apartments) and 8 expensive cars belonging to the defendants have been seized.

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it should be noted that the suspect under the specified article of the criminal code faces imprisonment for a term of five to twelve years with a fine and with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities or without such deprivation.

Supervision over compliance with tax legislation will continue to be within the purview of the prosecutor's office, thereby ensuring the protection of the economic interests of the state.

 

Deputy Head of the Department of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office for Supervision of Inquiry and Operational-Investigative Activities A.N. Zaikin