A member of the Public Chamber appealed to the head of the Federal Tax Service with a request to check Novaya Gazeta for payment of taxes from funds from foreign grants. Reason: participation in the investigation of an offshore scandal

Photo: RBC

Member of the Public Chamber (PC) Artem Kiryanov appealed to the head of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) Mikhail Mishustin with a request to check the Novaya Gazeta publication for payment of taxes from the funds of foreign grants and the use of possible mechanisms for cashing out funds when conducting journalistic investigations. Kiryanov reported this on his Facebook account and attached a photo of the appeal itself.

In it, he indicated that Novaya Gazeta is the only partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Research Project (OCCRP), an organization that, together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), published an investigation on the offshore companies of world leaders, politicians and businessmen on April 3 . including the “inner circle” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“According to the tax return, in 2012–2013 alone, OCCRP allocated at least $326 thousand to support investigative journalism in Russia and the CIS countries. In 2015, OCCRP functionaries initiated a large number of publications in Novaya Gazeta, which covered the “Magnitsky case” in detail. , corruption in the RFU, withdrawal of large sums of money from Russia,” says Kiryanov’s appeal to the head of the Federal Tax Service.

According to a member of the OP, “the specificity of so-called journalistic “investigations” often lies in the direct bribery of speakers, the purchase of information for cash, and the financial support of a pool of experts and non-profit organizations.” In this regard, Kiryanov notes, “it seems possible to use shell companies for the purpose of cashing out funds received as part of grant projects, including from abroad.”

On April 3, ICIJ and OCCRP published the results of a large-scale investigation into the offshore companies of world leaders, politicians and celebrities in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, which were obtained as a result of leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which provides services for registering offshore companies. On the same day, Novaya Gazeta published detailed stories about the offshore accounts of Russian politicians based on these documents.

The Novaya Gazeta materials spoke about 12 Russian officials whose families had offshore companies and accounts abroad. At the same time, according to journalists, many people still have offshore companies after the ban on their ownership was introduced.

Tax officials were asked to check Novaya after an investigation into offshore companies