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Excise duties on fuel and VAT could be looted through the Kaunas Cogeneration Power Plant (KHPP). According to “Kauno diena”, Mindaugas Žalimas was sentenced thirteen times. Today, the court allowed him to be arrested for two weeks.
Maybe i didn’t know
On Tuesday night, public space was rocked by news that officers from the Kaunas Board of the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) arrested KHPP owner Rimandas Stonis with a group of unidentified individuals.
In Kaunas, after the interrogation, accompanied by officials to the official car, R.Stonys answered the question of the knowledge of LNK, which is why he was detained, ignorant, only adding that “completely unnecessarily”. When asked if he was suspected, Stysys replied, “I will not comment on anything.”
Informed BNS sources confirmed that the businessman had been detained in an investigation for a fuel VAT fraud scheme. According to BNS, R.Stonys is a suspect in the investigation, but according to “Kauno diena” sources, it is possible that he was not aware of the scam.
It is said that KHPP owner R.Stonys may not have been aware of the affair that occurred at his power plant. (Photo by Tomas Ragina)
The FNTT confirmed yesterday that the crime was revealed in collaboration with the State Fiscal Inspection. Five suspects were arrested after the searches, including a possible organizer: M. Žalimas was convicted thirteen times for similar financial crimes.
You ran a scam by KHPP. Three or four people worked around him at the power plant. The fuel then came to KHPP through companies related to M. Žalimas or his son. According to the data of the pre-trial investigation, over the past seven years, in order to reduce the VAT on sales and the excise tax required for a company registered in Lithuania that trades petroleum products, reaching more than 1.1 million . EUR, involved in a criminal scheme, imitated oil purchase and sale transactions between five Lithuanian and foreign companies, which, according to the survey data, do not carry out any activity.
The commission of similar crimes has become an integral part of the suspect’s way of life and livelihood.
30 searches
In Kaunas, Klaipėda and Vilnius, officers from FNTT units, the police and the Public Security Service carried out more than 30 searches. Through them various objects and documents relevant to the investigation were taken.
The investigation also restricted the assets of companies and individuals to ensure a possible civil action.
According to representatives of the FNTT, the alleged organizer of the fraud scheme has been known since 1994 for similar crimes against the forces of order. 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 ruled as early as 2011 that the commission of similar crimes had become an integral part of the suspect’s way of life and livelihood. Currently, the FNTT is conducting three more pre-trial investigations into serious crimes against the system. of public finances in several more cases pending before the courts “, indicates the report of the service.
Detained for two weeks
On Wednesday, the Kaunas District Court allowed M. Žalimas to be arrested for two weeks.
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.
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 suspect will run, hide, objects and documents “, – says the court order.
Old stories
Millions – in your pocket, the state – pennies, and this is provided that officials manage to detect them. M. Žalimas has been in this “business” for many years. Four years ago, it was estimated that he had managed to disburse more than 10 million. euros.
“Kauno diena” has written that M. Žalimas, who has been convicted thirteen times, appears to be a pathological con artist, because as soon as he slams the prison door, he returns to the previous profession. And why not, so far Themis has been nice to him.
2017 The thirteenth sentence of M. Žalimas de Mažeikiai was announced in the Akmenė District Court.
It was quite mild: for fraudulent use of false invoices and together with the total misappropriation of almost 53 thousand. He was sentenced to four years in prison, suspended for three years. It is true that M. Žalimas was also obliged to cover the debt with the State: 1.9 million during the suspension of the sentence. euros. The judge’s pardon for fraudsters may be partially justified, and this is emphasized in the sentence. After all, the events that occurred ten years ago were considered in court.
On the other hand, the trial was not unreasonably prolonged, not only because of the accused. It is these circumstances, as is customary in jurisprudence, which allow the penalty to be reduced.
However, the trial of M. Žalimas was not just an ordinary citizen. 2011 In the Klaip City District Court, for fraud, falsification of documents, illegal activities of a legal person and an attempt to commit illegal activities, approximately 180 thousand people were misappropriated by falsifying invoices with VAT. EUR, was sentenced to eleven years and six months in prison in a prison. He was also ordered to pay almost 2 million. that he misappropriated without paying VAT. The Court of Appeal commuted the sentence to five years and, in May 2013, the Marijampolė District Court released M. Žalimas from the penitentiary without serving his sentence.
Furthermore, in 2006, when Žalimas committed crimes, he was released on parole and had a valid criminal record.
Fraud log
In December 2016, the FNTT Šiauliai Regional Board completed a criminal intelligence investigation and launched a pre-trial investigation into large-scale fraud and fraudulent accounting. It turns out that M. Žalimas, who was released from prison on parole, started his usual activities. In the course of an individual activity, in order to avoid, for their own benefit or that of third parties, the payment of high value VAT, purchase transactions that did not actually take place for more than LTL. 12 millions. In the case of the trade in petroleum products, they recorded in their accounts that they had been sold to companies that were not actually doing business, thus avoiding paying VAT.
Officers 2014-2015 Recorded at least five episodes when M. Žalimas, his son Martynas and eight others escaped about 8.7 million. EUR VAT. This amount qualifies for a VAT looting record.
Criminal intelligence data shows that financial transactions were not limited to dormant businesses run by non-residents. The UAB “Grudita”, registered in Vilnius but operating in Mažeikiai, was also included in the fraud schemes. The director of this company dedicated to the transport and commercialization of petroleum products is Martynas, son of M. Žalimas, but according to the investigators, the information collected allows us to conclude that the true manager and owner was the father.
Mentioned in the outrageous SSD certificate
According to data from TOP magazine, the value of the R. Stonis property in 2019 amounted to 70 million. euros.
R.Stonys is the owner of Kaunas Cogeneration Power Plant (KHPP), previously controlled the Dujotekana company, which was one of the largest gas importers of the Russian company Gazprom in Lithuania.
Dujotekana since 2008. Gazprom imported gas through the Swiss company LT Gas Stream; the contract with her was to be valid until 2020, but in 2018. in the fall, the company discontinued it and looked for new business opportunities. Former business partners of R. Stonis stated that he controls the intermediary LT Gas Stream.
2017 It was announced that KHPP and Datang International Power Generation, one of China’s largest power producers, agreed to establish a joint venture that would build a new $ 120 million plant in Kaunas. about 150 MW of gas cogeneration plant. However, the project was not implemented.
2019 In June, it was announced that the owner of KHPP, R. Stonys, had peacefully agreed with the Cyprus-registered company Restoni Trading to repay the debt in euros.
Seimas Committee for National Security and Defense (NSGK), 2006 In an investigation into the activities of the SSD, the department demanded that the department hand over 12 analytical certificates, which allegedly reveal the influence of companies and interest groups on politicians and public servants . Former SSD leaders refused to do so for reasons of current legislation.
2010 R.Stonys stated that after publishing the SSD certificates and publishing the names of the people mentioned in them, it will be possible to start a lawsuit in court.
“If the names are mentioned, it will be possible to continue with the defamation process. It will be interesting to explain the basis on which information about me was collected, how tracing and wiretapping were legalized. Why do those certificates include people that I have known and “They have nothing to do with my business,” R.Stonys told Lietuvos Rytas.
The businessman stressed that in these certificates the Prosecutor’s Office “did not see the composition of the crime on two occasions.”
Source: BNS
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