Blogger Valeria Chekalina, known as Lerchek, paid off all her tax debts. A criminal case was opened against Valeria, as well as her husband Artem Chekalin. The couple was accused of hiding more than 300 million rubles from the state.
According to investigators, Chekalina, being an individual entrepreneur, used a simplified taxation system. In order not to pay the tax service the due amount, she divided the business between five family members – they are also individual entrepreneurs, to whose accounts the money was received. Later, a new criminal case was opened against the spouses. They were charged with money laundering on an especially large scale. The investigation suspects that they legalized 130 million rubles and purchased US dollars for them in order to disguise the source of their origin.
Chekalina’s lawyer, Konstantin Tretyakov, told Business FM that his client paid taxes on May 3, 2023, and borrowed the money. The defense also filed a motion to cancel the measure of restraint, the arrest of accounts and the ban on using them. So far no response:
– Borrowed money, there the accounts are arrested.
– So I borrowed it. And who, you can tell in more detail?
– No. But it was a loan, a loan agreement, everything.
– How long?
– The secret of the investigation. The lawyer is not authorized to reveal anything more.
– Has this money already been transferred to the Federal Tax Service?
– They were transferred to the budget on May 3, and now there are no additional requirements for payment to the budget. They were loudly searched, told to pay 311 million. We say: “Okay, here’s 311 million for you.” Paid. We have filed a petition, stage by stage so far, for the removal of restrictive measures – the removal of the arrest from the accounts and the ban on using (the Internet).
Artem Chekalin’s lawyer Artem Gurov told Business FM that the defense did not file an independent petition to cancel the measure of restraint for his client and arrest the accounts, hoping that the investigation would make a decision against him automatically. “Since Artem Chekalin is (in the case) as an accomplice (of his wife), we decided that Valeria, as the person who paid the taxes, filed a petition for the removal of all restrictive measures, and they would be removed from him automatically,” the lawyer said. According to him, according to the law, the investigation must consider the petition of Valeria Chekalina’s defense within three days, but in practice investigators respond for a long time.
Claims can be removed only under the article on tax evasion, under the second article, on laundering of criminal proceeds, everything is more difficult. It provides for up to seven years in prison. Denis Saushkin, Managing Partner at ZKS Law Office, comments:
“A decision was made on the payment of arrears, penalties and fines for Ms. Chekalina, and if she really paid them, then this is a direct basis for terminating the criminal case regarding tax evasion. But this is not a solution to the problem of legalization. In this category of cases, there is no reason that the case is terminated upon payment. Further, a criminal case regarding legalization will be investigated. The circumstances allow the preliminary investigation authorities to analyze other financial and economic activities of Mrs. Chekalina, which may affect the further fate of this case. The punishment for legalization is up to seven years in prison. The criminal case, most likely, will be investigated for another two or three months, because it is not particularly difficult if this article remains the only one. Now, based on the measure of restraint, it can work, but without using the Internet. In her situation, what kind of job is that?”
According to the second article, on laundering criminal money, the court will most likely limit itself to a fine, believes Vladimir Fokin, chairman of the Moscow Bar Association Fokin and Partners:
– There will be a verdict, no one will release from liability under the second article, because there are no legal grounds. Most likely, they will try to limit themselves to a fine.
– How long can this last?
– The investigation usually takes from two months to a year. All circumstances are more or less established. Therefore, if the decision on the termination of the criminal case in connection with the repayment of the debt is approved for the first composition, then I think that within two months the fate of the second composition will be determined, and the materials will already go to court.
She can’t work?
– So far, yes, depending on the interim measures taken. She and her husband are also prohibited from using the Internet. Most likely, these measures will continue until the verdict of the court.
– And legalization – is it because they translated into dollars?
– Yes. The objective side is that the money or valuables received from the main crime are subject to financial transactions: either transfers or settlements. In practice, these are any operations with funds, from transfer to conversion, the acquisition of anything with them – movable and immovable property. If this money simply lay on a bank account, then the composition would not have formed.
In early May 2023, blogger Alexandra Mitroshina paid a debt of 120 million rubles to the tax inspectorate. The tax authorities are also waiting for the repayment of the debt from the 41-year-old “marathon queen” Elena Blinovskaya, who was detained at the entrance to the Russian-Belarusian border. She owed the state about a billion rubles in taxes, which she also evaded by splitting her business. As Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, said in mid-May 2023, so far the creator of the Marathon of Wishes has paid only 10 million rubles in unpaid taxes. The day before, on May 21, a post-appeal to subscribers with a request for financial assistance with the card number of her assistant appeared on Blinovskaya’s Telegram channel, although the blogger was forbidden to use the Internet.