| Intelligence agencies are trying to unravel the mystery of the appearance of “unidentified” office equipment in Moscow The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced yesterday an investigation into the largest case in recent years involving the smuggling of computers, office equipment and digital equipment into Russia. Investigators believe that over the course of several years, shipments of goods worth hundreds of millions of dollars were delivered to Moscow without paying customs duties. During one special operation alone, the Ministry of Internal Affairs managed to detain more than 80 trucks with equipment worth $17 million, the accompanying documents for which, as the police say, were “fake.” Investigators suspect that the cargo was intended for one of the well-known Russian computer wholesale companies, and representatives of a customs-related business could have participated in its legalization. However, it has not yet been possible to find out how such a large consignment of goods ended up in Russia and who transported it across the border. The FSB Department of Economic Security is participating in the investigation, and the Prosecutor General's Office has taken control of the case.
As the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, more than a year ago they learned that one company was creating front structures that, through American and Cypriot companies, purchased computer components, digital equipment, etc. abroad. The goods were accumulated in Finland, and then sent in trucks to Russia. As investigators suspect, when the trailers crossed the border, the drivers presented documents stating that the cargo was in transit through the Russian Federation to another country. In the Moscow region, according to detectives, caravans of trucks drove into temporary storage warehouses (TSW), where all the goods were quickly unloaded. Then the cars were sealed again and went to the country to which, according to the papers, the cargo was supposed to be delivered.
A small batch of such smuggled equipment was detained back in March last year in Moscow, and the prosecutor’s office of the North-Eastern District (NEAD) opened a criminal case on this fact. In the fall, the police received information that a new large batch of contraband was located in the reserve warehouse of one of the temporary storage warehouses in Pokhodny Proezd of the capital. The cargo inspection was scheduled for November 30, but the night before, the businessmen urgently ordered more than 80 trucks and urgently removed all the office equipment. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB rushed in pursuit of the caravan and soon found trailers in the city of Dedovsk and on the territory of the Putilkovsky poultry farm in the Krasnogorsk region. The trucks contained motherboards, laptops, printers, monitors, digital cameras, etc.
Soon, representatives of certain Merlion-M LLC and Matador-Service LLC arrived in Dedovsk and at the poultry farm, declaring that the cargo belonged to them, but they bought the equipment already in Russia. Moreover, from the documents initially presented by the businessmen, it followed that the equipment sellers sold the goods to these companies at prices even lower than those set by the manufacturer. Realizing the mistake, representatives of the LLC took the documents and soon brought new ones, with “normal” prices, and cargo customs declarations (CCD) for the goods. However, the papers aroused suspicion among the operatives, and they detained the entire cargo worth $17 million. Most of the equipment was taken to a state warehouse, and the materials were added to the criminal case, which was conducted by the prosecutor's office of the North-East Administrative District.
According to the detectives, according to the documents presented to them, the equipment was purchased from three companies, and they, in turn, received it from 12 companies - customs declarants. However, an examination of these structures showed that most of them are fictitious and did not bring anything to Russia. Therefore, it is still unclear how such a gigantic batch of equipment entered the country. When the operatives began checking the customs declaration numbers, it turned out that some of the declarations were issued not for office equipment, but for candies, mineral fertilizers, etc. The rest of the customs declarations were issued for completely different shipments of equipment that had nothing to do with the detainees.
As they say at the Main Directorate for the Central Federal District, when it became obvious that the cargo was smuggled, certain people closely associated with the customs business approached them and offered to settle the problem “amicably.” The bribe amount ranged from several hundred thousand to a million dollars. The businessmen were refused, and then a behind-the-scenes struggle began for the cargo. First, representatives of Merlion-M presented documents that they bought the goods with loans received from two banks - Rosevrobank and the Bank of Innovation and Development. Moreover, the cargo itself served as collateral for the loans, so it actually belongs to the banks. However, investigators refused to return the equipment on this basis.
Then a certain Vitaly Pobochin appealed to the Koptevsky District Court of Moscow with a demand to recognize the actions of the special services as illegal. He complained that at one time he purchased four computers from Merlion-M and Matador-Service, but due to the seizure of the goods, he now cannot receive his equipment. As a result, the judge decided that the entire cargo should be returned to Merlion-M and Matador-Service. Soon, bailiffs and representatives of companies arrived at the state warehouse, took the cargo and took it to Dedovsk and the Putilkovsky poultry farm. However, along the way, 50 trucks with the most valuable goods, including motherboards and laptops, mysteriously disappeared. As a result, trailers with cargo worth only $6 million reached their destination. There they were immediately taken under police protection, since the goods appear in the criminal case as “material evidence of a crime.”
Attempts by police to find the missing trucks were unsuccessful. Initially, they received information that the cars could have gone to the Lesnoy temporary storage warehouse (he is the founder of Rosevrobank), but during the search they were unable to find the missing office equipment there. As for the organizers of smuggling schemes, a number of entrepreneurs associated with the customs business are now being checked for involvement in them. Alexander SHVAREV |
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