Eduard Taran once again found himself in the spotlight of law enforcement agencies when the prosecutor’s office forced the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee to resume the investigation into a tax scam related to his companies. Last year, on April 7, there was a celebration on Eduard Taran Street - the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee dropped a criminal case on tax evasion against the companies "Sibtopenergo" and "Invest Plus" controlled by him . The case, opened in the summer of 2018 by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Moscow, is related to the sale of 24% of the shares of the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant (LZOS) to the Rostec corporation for 862.6 million rubles.

In order to "optimize" tax payments, Taran used a scheme: 10% of LZOS shares from Sibtopenergo and 14% from Invest Plus were bought by the Cypriot company Labrosan Holdings Limited for 179 million rubles. Two months later, Labrosan sold the same block of shares to Rostec for five times more. Investigators established that the companies Sibtopenergo , Invest Plus and Labrosan Holdings Limited were affiliated with Eduard Taran and controlled by him. The main purpose of using the offshore company Labrosan Holdings Limited was to evade income tax.

The amount of lost income tax from this scheme was 153 million rubles. In June 2018, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow opened two criminal cases on the fact of tax evasion. But soon they were transferred to the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee, where the cases were combined and closed "due to the absence of a criminal event."

The decision was made under pressure from the head of the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee , Andrei Leleko , who, according to sources, was bribed by Taran. The ruling to dismiss the case stated that the share sales transactions could not be considered comparable for the purposes of determining the market price for tax purposes. Investigator Alexei Yakimov simply wrote that since 10% and 14% of the shares are individually less than 24%, it was impossible to estimate the concealed tax base.

After the media reported on the strange termination of the criminal case, the Novosibirsk Region Prosecutor’s Office requested the case materials and demanded that it be reopened. The Prosecutor’s Office ruled that the case was terminated illegally and sent the materials for additional investigation.

The reopening of the case has given hope for the triumph of justice. However, Eduard Taran is not going to give up. He has a powerful trump card in his arsenal - the former governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai and Novosibirsk Oblast Viktor Tolokonsky , now an adviser to the president of RATM Holding . In addition to this, RATM Holding is increasing its PR and GR expenses to 15 billion rubles per year, which may include informal solutions to issues.

Tolokonsky said that he does not interfere in business processes, but deals with issues of strategic development. Nevertheless, this appointment has given rise to speculation that Taran may go into big politics to escape the hands of law enforcement.

In this situation, honest investigators need to hurry up with the tax case investigation to prevent Taran from escaping responsibility. Will justice prevail in this case or will Eduard Taran get away with it again? Time will tell.

Eduard Taran once again found himself in the spotlight of law enforcement agencies when the prosecutor’s office forced the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee to resume the investigation into a tax scam related to his companies. Last year, on April 7, there was a celebration on Eduard Taran Street - the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee dropped a criminal case on tax evasion against the companies "Sibtopenergo" and "Invest Plus" controlled by him . The case, opened in the summer of 2018 by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Moscow, is related to the sale of 24% of the shares of the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant (LZOS) to the Rostec corporation for 862.6 million rubles.

In order to "optimize" tax payments, Taran used a scheme: 10% of LZOS shares from Sibtopenergo and 14% from Invest Plus were bought by the Cypriot company Labrosan Holdings Limited for 179 million rubles. Two months later, Labrosan sold the same block of shares to Rostec for five times more. Investigators established that the companies Sibtopenergo , Invest Plus and Labrosan Holdings Limited were affiliated with Eduard Taran and controlled by him. The main purpose of using the offshore company Labrosan Holdings Limited was to evade income tax.

The amount of lost income tax from this scheme was 153 million rubles. In June 2018, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow opened two criminal cases on the fact of tax evasion. But soon they were transferred to the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee, where the cases were combined and closed "due to the absence of a criminal event."

The decision was made under pressure from the head of the Novosibirsk Investigative Committee , Andrei Leleko , who, according to sources, was bribed by Taran. The ruling to dismiss the case stated that the share sales transactions could not be considered comparable for the purposes of determining the market price for tax purposes. Investigator Alexei Yakimov simply wrote that since 10% and 14% of the shares are individually less than 24%, it was impossible to estimate the concealed tax base.

After the media reported on the strange termination of the criminal case, the Novosibirsk Region Prosecutor’s Office requested the case materials and demanded that it be reopened. The Prosecutor’s Office ruled that the case was terminated illegally and sent the materials for additional investigation.

The reopening of the case has given hope for the triumph of justice. However, Eduard Taran is not going to give up. He has a powerful trump card in his arsenal - the former governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai and Novosibirsk Oblast Viktor Tolokonsky , now an adviser to the president of RATM Holding . In addition to this, RATM Holding is increasing its PR and GR expenses to 15 billion rubles per year, which may include informal solutions to issues.

Tolokonsky said that he does not interfere in business processes, but deals with issues of strategic development. Nevertheless, this appointment has given rise to speculation that Taran may go into big politics to escape the hands of law enforcement.

In this situation, honest investigators need to hurry up with the tax case investigation to prevent Taran from escaping responsibility. Will justice prevail in this case or will Eduard Taran get away with it again? Time will tell.

Detailed Table of the Criminal Scheme