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Delfi sources reported that early Thursday morning, the Kaunas District Court made the decision to arrest the organizer of the scheme, suspected of being Mindaugas Žalimas, for 15 days instead of the requested 3 months.
Law enforcement officials unofficially call M. Žalimas the patriarch of VAT embezzlement in Lithuania.
“The court put the possible organizer of the plan in preventive detention for 15 days, and another suspect was detained for 1 month. Two more suspects received a cash bail of 20,000 thousand each. And written promises not to leave, prohibiting communication with other suspects Another suspect received 50,000 thousand – Delfi was informed by the Attorney General’s Office.
The court based its decision not to arrest on the argument that there were no grounds for this preventive detention.
According to the SNB, the judicial representative Vaiva Milkeraitienė, the prosecutor requested to arrest M. Žalimas for three months, but the court granted this request in part: he ordered the arrest until March 18.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court fully complied with the prosecutor’s request and allowed the arrest of another month of Rolandas Mažrimas, another alleged member of this organized group.
According to V. Milkeraitienė, when considering the question of the arrest of the suspect, M. Žalimas’s defense attorney indicated that there was no substantiated data on the crime against him, he cooperated with the forces of order and answered all questions.
He also pointed out to the court that M. Žalimas has a small child who is also cared for by a permanent place of residence, so he should not hide and run.
In the ruling, the court indicated that there was evidence in the case that M. Žalimas had committed criminal acts of which he is suspected.
“It has been established that the suspect has previously committed several similar crimes, including in a foreign state, committed a new crime in an organized group of accomplices, possibly caused significant damage to the state, so there is a reasonable suspicion that the El suspect will run, hide, interfere with the process. Objects and documents, “says the court ruling.
Judge Audronė Levinskienė, who reviewed the arrest request, told BNS that the two-week period was chosen as an intermediate option, that it did not violate the suspect’s rights or the public interest.
According to the judge, the hearing on the detention did not end until Wednesday after the seventh night, and on Thursday, at eight in the morning, the 48-hour detention of M. Žalimas had already expired.
“There is an intermediate option in which nobody’s interests are harmed. I cannot take a formal action alone and allocate three months, as requested by the prosecutor,” A. Levinskienė told BNS.
According to her, there are reasonable grounds for detaining M. Žalimas, but her rights must also be guaranteed, so it would be wrong to adopt the strictest detention measure in such a short time.
“Here to preserve both the interests of the suspect and the public interest. A very unfavorable situation arose, but the issue had to be resolved quickly and expeditiously,” said the judge.
“On March 18 I will work in preventive detention and I will be the one who will extend this term,” he added.
Two more suspects, whose arrest should be resolved in the near future, are seeking a one- and two-month detention.
V. Milkeraitienė informed BNS that the court had rejected the prosecutor’s requests to arrest Linas Marijus Vaitkevičius and Darius Daugalas and imposed less leniency measures: 20 thousand. a written commitment not to leave and a restriction on communication with other suspects.
According to her, the detention is the strictest detention measure, which the court saw no reason to impose on LMVaitkevičius, so it imposed lighter detention measures.
“It should be noted that during the pre-trial investigation, more than 30 searches were made, documents were seized, other suspects were already questioned and witnesses were also questioned. The suspect stated that he had an interest in explaining all the circumstances known to him and in assisting in the pre-trial investigation. There is also no evidence that the suspect has previously tried to obstruct the process or committed other illegal acts, “said the court spokeswoman.
When examining the request of the Prosecutor’s Office in relation to D. Daugalas, the court took into account the same circumstances and the fact that he collaborated with the forces of order and had previously provided the requested documents.
Police announced Wednesday a pre-trial investigation into large-scale VAT fraud and fraudulent accounting, in which five people were arrested, including energy businessman Rimandas Stonys.
Stonys is the only suspect whose arrest the prosecution is not seeking.
According to Delfi, a large-scale pre-trial investigation has been launched into possible large-scale fraud and fraudulent accounting within an organized group.
“According to preliminary data, the damage to the state is around 1.1 million euros. Five people were arrested during the process,” explained Darius Valkavičius, Chief Prosecutor of the Klaipėda Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation was initiated by the large-scale non-payment of VAT and excise duties.
Organizer convicted 13 times before, enjoyed luxury
For the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT), the main alleged leader of an organized group is convicted and known many times.
“A person who has had 13 convictions, has been sentenced to 11 years, has almost sat in reality and continues to do the same activity. Very fond of luxury, he uses a relatively luxurious Mercedes Benz car from 2020, which costs from 80 to 150 thousand. and the wife in 2017. Range Rover. Another member of the organized group also uses a similar 2015 Mercedes. So this shadow business was not bad for them, ”said Rolandas Urbonas, head of the Kaunas County FNTT on Wednesday.
According to the FNTT, the alleged organizer of the fraud scheme has been known since 1994 for similar crimes against law enforcement agencies. In the past, he has been repeatedly convicted of large-scale VAT fraud in the fuel, metal, wood and building materials trade, and has spent several years in prison as a result.
In recent years, according to the FNTT, crimes have been committed in the trade in petroleum products.
“The court, when pleading guilty, already declared in 2011 that the commission of similar crimes has become an integral part of the suspect’s way of life and source of livelihood. Currently, the FNTT is conducting three more preliminary investigations for crimes serious against the public finance system involving this person, and several more cases are pending in court, “the service said in a statement.
In 2017, the portal kauno.diena.lt wrote that M. Žalimas for fraudulent use of forged invoices and 53 thousand. He was sentenced in Akmenė District Court to four years of probation.
According to the portal, this was the thirteenth conviction of M. Žalimas: in 2011 the Klaipėda District Court sentenced him to 11 years and six months in prison for fraud, falsification of documents, illegal activities of a legal person and attempted illegal activity and ordered him to pay almost 2 million. that he misappropriated without paying VAT.
Subsequently, this sentence was shortened by the Lithuanian Court of Appeal for five years, for which M. Žalimas returned to freedom in 2016.
On Tuesday, 85 officials from the FNTT and other institutions conducted searches in Mažeikiai, Vilnius, Klaipėda and Kaunas. Research relevant documents and other data were collected and analyzed.
Traded in oil
According to the data of the preliminary investigation, in the last 7 months, a group of accomplices is suspected of reducing the VAT on sales and the excise tax that an energy company registered in Lithuania, which sells petroleum products, must pay by more than 1 , 1 million. . EUR, possibly carried out a criminal plan, imitating oil purchase and sale transactions between 5 Lithuanian and foreign companies, which, according to the investigation data, do not carry out any activity. The amount of unpaid fees may change during the investigation.
“This group of 5 people has created such a mechanism of criminal activity, it is like a separate trade in oil and diesel. This is due to the VAT that is paid on the sale of diesel and excise duties. To avoid this, they created an oil trading scheme between fictitious companies run by members of their organized group, ”explained R. Urbonas.
Later, a representative of the FNTT explained that the suspects were asked to be detained for 2 and 3 months. period.
“The ownership of the property is restricted by a resolution of the prosecutor. Seized property of more than 2 million euros. Some of the seized assets are miscellaneous assets”, says D. Valkavičius.
He hinted that a bank account with 400 thousand. euros.
Delphi Remember that on Tuesday the news on LNK television announced that one of the richest Lithuanian businessmen, Rimandas Stonys, had been arrested. Informed sources confirmed to BNS on Tuesday that energy businessman R. Stonys had been detained in an investigation into a fuel VAT fraud scheme.
Large-scale fraud in an organized group carries the most severe sentences of up to eight years.
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