Translated material
Side villas
The tax police wants to become financial
The Federal Tax Police Service (FSNP) could become a super agency with extremely broad powers. At the same time, it will change its name. The head of the main operational department of the Federal Tax Police Service, Kuzma Shalenkov, said yesterday that the leadership of the FSNP proposes to rename the tax police to the financial police. The need for this, according to Mr. Shalenkov, is related to the expansion of the service’s sphere of competence. In particular, the number of articles of the Criminal Code under the jurisdiction of the police has already increased from two tax ones (Articles 198 and 199 - tax evasion of individuals and legal entities) to 29. If the financial police are created, the number of articles under the jurisdiction of the new service will exceed 50. In fact, the new body will be able to deal with almost all articles of the Criminal Code directly or indirectly related to economic crimes.The strengthening of the Federal Tax Service fits well into the mainstream of the state policy of “equidistant” oligarchs from power. Recently, most of the work in this direction has been carried out by tax police. However, due to a lack of authority, they, according to their own statements, very often cannot complete the task. After transformation into the financial police, tax (or financial) police have a real chance to prove themselves to the fullest.
Already, the FSNP is actively exploring new horizons. According to Mr. Shalenkov, the Federal Tax Service is currently clarifying the legality of purchasing real estate abroad. The tax policeman explained that both the payment of taxes on the cost of acquiring property and the legality of the transfer of foreign currency from Russia are being checked. In particular, the tax police have already “examined” 298 people who have real estate in Spain. After the police began checking, forty owners were incredibly surprised by the presence of foreign real estate and claimed that their passport data was used to carry out transactions without their knowledge. After which the police suggested that these people transfer the property they owned to the state. “Some of these 40 people have already expressed their readiness to go to Spain for this and draw up the relevant documents,” explained Mr. Shalenkov.
It can be assumed that some of those who wanted to enrich the state still knew about their own wealth, but chose not to quarrel with the police. “Usually a tax crime is the last link in a criminal offense,” the Federal Tax Service told a Vremya Novostey correspondent. However, after the property is transferred, the tax investigation against the unfortunate owners will be closed.
Having trained in Spanish villas and mansions, the police soon intend to tackle Malta, Cyprus and some other countries that are so beloved by wealthy Russians. According to Mr. Shalenkov, foreign real estate is often registered under the names of dummies using forged documents. However, even after registering the property in their own name, villa owners cannot count on a quiet life. According to a source close to the tax police, “if you want, you can find a tax violation from almost anyone.”
Apparently, only bad relations between departments can prevent the creation of a “super-department”. According to Mr. Shalenkov, a draft law expanding the powers of the Federal Tax Service has already been prepared and sent for review to interested organizations. If the police initiative is supported, then most likely this bill will go to the Duma in the coming months.
However, tax police, taking away the powers to monitor economic crimes, narrow the sphere of influence of other law enforcement agencies, in particular the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Customs, etc. The initiative of the police is unlikely to cause great joy among the employees of these organizations. Moreover, according to Mr. Shalenkov, the transfer of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Customs Committee to the new body is not expected. Naturally, the deprived departments are unlikely to calmly watch as a formidable and empowered financial police appears in place of the still modest FSNP.
What can a tax policeman do?
The Federal Tax Police Service has the right to conduct operational search activities, initiate criminal cases and investigative actions under a number of relevant articles of the Criminal Code.
According to the Law on Operational Investigative Activities, tax police, just like police officers and the FSB, have the right to wiretap telephone conversations, control postal or telegraph messages, external surveillance, seizure and examination of documents, etc.
The articles of the Criminal Code under investigation by the tax police include: fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, illegal banking activities, false entrepreneurship, laundering of illegally obtained funds, illegal obtaining of a loan, tax evasion and other economic crimes.