Smells like corruption

Tax officials got burned by perfumes

A new corruption scandal has broken out in the department of the Federal Tax Service (UFTS) in Moscow. It is expected that today the Zamoskvoretsky court will issue sanctions for the arrest of the head of the department for control in the sphere of turnover and production of alcohol and tobacco products of the Federal Tax Service, Elena Svetashova, and her subordinate Alfiya Sayfutdinova. The women were detained late last week on suspicion of receiving bribes in the amount of $75,000 from businessmen involved in the perfume trade. Among the suspects, according to the investigation, are several more department employees.

According to the Moscow prosecutor's office, this story began about six months ago. A capital company engaged in the trade of perfumes needed an appropriate license, and it turned to the tax authorities. However, the entrepreneurs failed to obtain the necessary documents legally. Last fall, two intermediaries approached the company - Tatyana Yadrennikova and Eduard Penoy. They offered to solve the problem for 75 thousand dollars. According to the investigation, 55 thousand of this amount were intended for 36-year-old Elena Svetashova, who headed the commission for issuing licenses of the Federal Tax Service. The intermediaries intended to take the rest of the money for themselves. The businessmen, having heard the proposal, took several days to think about it, after which they turned for help to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District (GU MVD for the Central Federal District).

Subsequently, all negotiations between intermediaries and businessmen took place under the control of operatives. The businessmen decided that the money would be kept in a safe deposit box, from where Yadrennikova and Penoy could take it in exchange for a issued license. At the end of December, the required amount was deposited in the bank, and the parties agreed to meet after the New Year holidays.

At a meeting held on January 18 in a cafe on Paveletskaya Square, the mediators were detained. During the search, Yadrennikova’s license was found. The woman immediately agreed to assist the investigation and transfer the reward to Svetashova. As a result of the operation, a Federal Tax Service official was detained near her home. The next day, the police also caught her secretary, Alfiya Sayfutdinova. The Zamoskvoretsk Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office opened a case under the Criminal Code article “receipt of a bribe by a group of persons on a large scale by prior conspiracy.”

As the city prosecutor's office said, as part of this criminal case, on Friday law enforcement agencies conducted searches in the building of the Federal Tax Service in Moscow on Bolshaya Tulskaya. “The events took place in the offices of the control department in the sphere of turnover and production of alcohol and tobacco products. A number of other employees of the Federal Tax Service are under suspicion; as soon as their involvement in this case is proven, they will be detained,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Alexey IVLEV