MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Federal Tax Service and the Investigative Committee have worked together on amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code that would allow investigators to open cases without Federal Tax Service authorization, Vedomosti newspaper writes on Friday.

Until 2011, criminal cases could be opened without a prior tax audit, but this provision was reversed at the initiative of then President Dmitry Medvedev. In December 2013, the State Duma adopted a high-profile presidential bill in the first reading that reinstates the law enforcement agencies’ right to initiate tax crime cases without waiting for the tax authority to sign off on it.

The business community has spoken up against the amendments.

Under the amendments, for three days before opening a case, investigators can send the relevant case materials and estimated calculations of arrears to the tax agency. The tax agency can then either respond that they had not found any arrears or that they had not audited the company in question. But it would not be obliged to conduct an audit.

“Meanwhile, the investigators would not need to wait for the tax agency’s response to open a case if they have sufficient evidence of a criminal violation,” the newspaper writes. “Even a negative response from the Federal Tax Agency will not affect the Investigative Committee’s decision.”
As before, investigators will be able to close the case if the suspect pays the tax balance due.