The Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs start fighting against currency speculators

According to the source, in a letter from the Federal Tax Service dated March 23, it was instructed to organize joint work with law enforcement agencies to identify facts of illegal purchase and sale of foreign currencies bypassing banks.

It is noted that such transactions are not subject to anti-sanction relaxation of foreign exchange controls. The sent letter, according to RBC, refers to the activities of currency speculators in social networks, instant messengers, and Internet services. It is indicated that the shadow sale of currencies "under the current conditions poses a threat to the stability of the currency of the Russian Federation and the stability of the domestic foreign exchange market." The authenticity of the letter was confirmed by two sources of RBC . The agency turned to the Federal Tax Service for comments.

“Recently, cases of illegal purchase and sale of foreign currency have spread, in connection with which the tax authorities were instructed to pay special attention to identifying such violations, taking into account the existing capabilities of the internal affairs bodies,” the press service of the Federal Tax Service said.

The service noted that monitoring of such operations is carried out on an ongoing basis, and representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are also involved in the control. Control over compliance with currency legislation is within the jurisdiction of the Federal Tax Service, but operational activities are not within the competence of the service. This explains the cooperation between the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. RBC contacted law enforcement agencies for comment, but no response has yet been received.

The agency notes that the tax authorities have suspended checks of compliance with currency legislation. This decision was made in early March to reduce the administrative burden on organizations and citizens. At the same time, the relief does not apply to the actions of currency speculators. In this case, checks on the facts of violations of the currency legislation are carried out in the usual way.