MOSCOW, October 2 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Wednesday reduced sentence of the Tavern Taras Bulba restaurant chain owner Yury Beloivan in a tax evasion case from 24 to 21 months in custody, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

The defendant’s defense submitted receipts indicating repayment of 600,000 rubles ($9,000) to the tax body.

In July, Moscow’s Basmanny District Court a 2-year prison sentence on the Beloivan. The case was heard under a special procedure without examining evidence as the defendant pleaded guilty.

Investigators claimed that between January 2011 and March 2014, Beloivan failed to disclose the income effective principal in tax bills and stripped a taxation base to evade the payment of taxes from his 8 Tavern Taras Bulba restaurants. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, he concealed over 650 million rubles in taxes (over 10 million rubles).