FTS and security officials in Samara helped criminals to steal 4.4 billion rubles from the budget

In the Samara region, the largest tax scandal erupted, which is already called "Magnitsky's second case". According to RBC , the largest underground service in Russia was operating in the region to create shadow schemes for avoiding the payment of value added tax (VAT). The work of the criminal "tax octopus" was served by former and current employees of the tax authorities of the Samara region, as well as employees of law enforcement agencies.

“The users of the service, according to the investigation, were contractors of state corporations and large companies from Moscow, the Moscow region, Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Tver, Krasnodar and Nizhny Novgorod”, - notes Kommersant.

Among the potential clients of the site are the contractors of Roskosmos and the Moscow Metro.

A criminal case was initiated on the facts of abuse of office (part 1 of article 286 of the Criminal Code). As established by the investigation, the work of the "tax octopus" helped commercial companies from different regions to evade VAT payments of 4.4 billion rubles.

The brain center of the criminal group was the employees of the interdistrict inspection of the Federal Tax Service No. 2 in the Samara region. The case against them was initiated in October. Experts believe that in the spring of this year, the suspected tax authorities allegedly used a fake power of attorney of a commercial company to represent its interests by submitting fake electronic declarations. When the falsifications were revealed, the investigation reached out to the other members of the organized criminal group, who were engaged in fraudulent activities with VAT with the help of one-day shell companies.

According to RBC, the criminal group, with which 430 legal entities are connected, presumably operates on the basis of Elrem Service LLC. Ordinary employees of MI FTS No. 2 in the Samara Region appealed to the head of the Federal Tax Service Daniil Yegorov, warning him about corruption in the leadership and the role of Elrem Service. Their suspicions were aroused by the fact that four companies associated with the activities of the transit site of Elrem Service LLC and having billions of dollars in turnover were liquidated in just two months without taking control measures on the instructions of the management. Despite the tax authorities' attempts to liquidate the Elrem Service site, it continued to grow, “creating new branches”.

Among the organizers of the criminal scheme are two former employees of MI No. 2; searches were carried out in their houses. In total, 25 people were involved in tax fraud.