Penza, 29 June 2012. PenzaNews. The Prosecutor of the Penza region confirmed the indictment against the Head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia in Leninskiy district of Penza Oleg Pantyukhin, who is accused of committing three offenses under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code “Large-scale fraud committed using official position and organized crime group.”

“Andrey Mashkov, Ruslan Vinogradov, Vladimir Kasimovsky, Kiril Mashkov and Margarita Arkhipova are also held on the charges of this case. Separate legal proceedings are instituted in respect of two other people,” commented the Senior Assistant Attorney of the Penza region Yuliya Makarova.

She said that the crimes were committed in order to steal money from the federal budget by the illegal reimbursement of value added tax (VAT).

“The members of the criminal group created “fly-by-night” firms which obtained loans in one of the Moscow banks for the purpose of purchasing boiler equipment. After that they made fictitious contracts for its sale, installation and transportation. To get a positive decision on VAT refunds the criminal group involved the Head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia in Leninskiy district of Penza Oleg Pantyukhin,” clarified the agency interlocutor.

Being aware of the illegality of the VAT refund due to the lack of actual business and fictitious transactions, Oleg Pantyukhin organized a favorable outcome of cameral tax inspections to conduct smooth VAT refund. In one case, he instructed a subordinate officer to assist members of the criminal group to issue the necessary documents-on-review correctly.

“This way, the members of the criminal group received 49,8 million rubles from the federal budget as a result of a VAT refund to fictitious transactions on equipment purchase totaling 322,7 million rubles,” clarified Yuliya Makarova.

She noted that the stolen money was distributed among the participants of the criminal group, and Oleg Pantyukhin received 30% of it.

“This criminal group was organized by Andrey Mashkov and the person against whom separate legal proceedings were instituted, and who is currently on the international wanted list. Not all the members of the criminal group were familiar with each other and their roles in the fraud scheme,” added the Senior Assistant Prosecutor.

After the copies of the indictment approved by the Prosecutor of the Penza region are presented to the accused, the case will be sent to the Leninskiy district court of Penza for consideration on the merits.