In the case of the financial matter, the circle of suspects is expanding: extremely important evidence has been found in the stream

Law enforcement activities are in the limelight of law enforcement

Tax evasion, money laundering from Grill London companies is possible through an association led by broker E. Staponkus. So far, a large-scale police investigation has been launched against companies that operate the restaurant chain.

“The scheme was covered by a civil relationship allegedly terminated under various contracts. The money was withdrawn and, we suspect, it is being returned to donors,” said Laimonas Petreikis, the prosecutor for the 2nd Prosecution Division of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office, during a press conference last Wednesday.

“The business supported and received a separate part of the cash, and the association president possibly withdrew the money, perhaps left a part and turned it over, thus creating a hidden economy,” said the acting county police chief. from Kaunas, Elanas Jablonskas.

During the investigation of possible financial crimes, 40 searches were made, around 800 thousand in cash were found. euros

Divers pulled disc sets from the stream

According to the Delfi portal, the investigation advanced a week later: more suspects appeared in the case, law enforcement officers found themselves in the hands of a confusing plan that could unmask, a crucial accusation that was attempted to destroy.

These are hard disk arrays (NAS) connected to a computer network that are believed to store information about shadow cash flows. The suspects drowned these devices in the Kruna stream that flows into the Kaunas lagoon. Firefighters – rescuers – were used to get them out.

The fact that computer equipment was found in the Kruna stream with the help of divers was confirmed by the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office, Laimonas Petreikis, who was leading the pre-trial investigation.

“We believe that the computer equipment found will contain data relevant to the investigation,” prosecutor L. Petreikis said.

He clarified that more computer equipment and media were also found and confiscated during the search. However, it seems that the most important part: the disk arrays connected to the computer network or the server, where the most important information was stored, were still removed from the building and sank during the police operation. Later it was found in a stream.

Have you set up your own data warehouse?

Judging from the published information, it appears that the suspects in hidden financial activities understood what they were doing and tried to keep all the information about the companies’ activities in a more difficult place for law enforcement. This is evidenced in a photo distributed by officials, showing a “server” cabinet with computer communication equipment, a router, and a hub, standing in the basement of a house or annex building.

The photo shows an exception that the “server” probably tried to remove. However, by the dimensions of the cabinet itself, it is obvious that more equipment was installed in it, which was no longer available when law enforcement officers arrived.

This is evidenced in the photo showing at least four network plugs and computer network cables disconnected from the devices. Multiple network hard disk arrays for data storage are likely the missing part.

It appears that the main data warehouse operated here, which contained data on financial transactions that the law enforcement authorities that initiated the investigation are currently exploring.

Although entrepreneurs now tend to abandon their own servers, which require a lot of resources to manage and maintain and store data in clouds or data centers, it seems that the actors suspected of financial scams had serious reasons for doing so.

Possibly this solution to install a data warehouse in the basement of some house was chosen to protect this information from law enforcement. If financial data of interest to officials were kept in the data center, judicial penalties would suffice and officials could obtain copies.

Prosecutor L. Petreikis, who is leading the investigation, said he could not comment on which room, whether one of the suspects or not, had a data warehouse.

The information is being recovered, it may be encrypted

According to Delfi, the computer equipment that has been in the water for some time has been expertly inspected, and attempts are being made to restore the information on the hard drives.

Even if they manage to resuscitate them to a second life, this does not necessarily mean that the information will serve as the basis for research. Suspects in hidden financial activity may have acted prudently and tried to keep all data encrypted.

“It just caught our eye then. They can be encrypted, they can be decrypted,” prosecutor L. Petreikis confirmed the assumptions.

Even if water professionals could retrieve information from hard drives, but it turns out to be encrypted, you could still try to decrypt it. For this, various methodologies are used, highly efficient computers and password selection systems are used. It is not ruled out that a cryptographic key can also be found on other computer media or in the notes of suspects found and taken during the search.

Investigation of the case continues, the circle of suspects is expanding.

In the initial stage of the investigation, allegations of financial machinations were made against two people: E. Staponkas and Andrius Lavrinavičius, head of the companies that operate Grill London restaurants.

During the presentation of this police investigation to the media, nothing was mentioned about the shareholders of the companies, among whom, according to Delfi and the son of the famous millionaire Kaunas, the head of a well-known company.

When asked if there was an increase in the number of suspects in the case, the prosecutor who led the investigation, L. Petreikis, confirmed that the situation was changing and that information was only provided about the two suspects in the initial stage. According to Delfi, the circle of suspects is expanding.

“I would not like to detail the number of suspects. They are not really decreasing,” said prosecutor L. Petreikis, who assured that he could not provide any information on the number of suspects or the role of these people.

When asked whether the suspects had already been declared, or perhaps even reported to the shareholders of companies headed by A. Lavrinavičius, the prosecutor also said he would not elaborate further.

“Much remains to be done to collect the information properly. Therefore, any disclosure of the suspicion can help predict the direction of the investigation,” said L. Petreikis, Prosecutor in the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office who is leading the investigation.

Cash flow traveled to the United States

According to data provided by the police, E. Staponkus, a board member and president of the motor sports club, is suspected of fraudulent accounting by the company from May 6 to 15, 2019 and transferred more than 200 thousand to a company. Foreign located in Florida, USA. for services not related to the company’s activities.

Yes, according to the application of the law, it unjustifiably increased the company’s costs to avoid almost 35 thousand. Euro Taxes It is also suspected that E. Staponkus helped A. Lavrinavičius, the current manager of eleven companies, in arranging the incorrect data entry in the returns and sending them to the authorized state institution, when he jointly returned the transferred funds to the club. of motor sports E. Staponkus since January 10, 2017. Alleged support received from companies managed by A. Lavrinavičius.

He directed 11 companies that managed restaurants.

It is suspected that A. Lavrinavičius, as a de facto manager of eleven companies, to avoid taxes, he, in collaboration with another suspect, recovered the funds transferred to the motor sports club from January 1, 2017 for the alleged support, a total of more than 418 thousand. euros

For an unofficially agreed fee, he recovered the money transferred from E. Staponkus to the motorsports club in support. Said actions, in accordance with the application of the law, were intended to avoid taxes in the amount of at least 125 thousand. As a result, potentially incorrect data was submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate.

According to police data, the head of the public restoration network and the president of another institution, by prior agreement, transferred more than 400 thousand LTL from the companies of the restoration network to the account of another institution in support of January 1 from 2017 to December 31, 2019. euros

Both suspects deny fault.