The owner of the Russian Appetite restaurant, Prytykin, has become a defendant in a new criminal case for non-payment of 700 million rubles in taxes.
A sole proprietor is suspected of tax evasion totaling over 700 million rubles. According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the case against him has been opened under Part 2 of Article 198 of the Russian Criminal Code (tax evasion by an individual on an especially large scale).
Local media reports indicate that the suspect is Andrei Prytykin, owner of the “Russian Appetite” chain and former Voronezh Regional Duma deputy. Law enforcement officials are also investigating him for involvement in other criminal activities.
According to investigators, between 2019 and 2021, he created a “business fragmentation” scheme by formally registering employees of the group of companies and their relatives as individual entrepreneurs, which allowed him to apply special tax regimes and significantly minimize his tax liabilities. As a result, investigators believe, more than 700 million rubles in taxes went uncollected.
As part of the investigation, searches were conducted at the businessman's businesses and residences, and documents and data storage devices relevant to the case were seized. The Investigative Committee reports that during interrogation, the suspect denied involvement in the crime and refused to take steps to compensate for the damages caused. To ensure possible compensation, the court, at the request of the investigators, seized the bank accounts of his affiliated entities.
Since August of last year, Prytykin has been in custody on charges of bribery of officials during the 2020 Voronezh Regional Duma elections. At the first court hearing, the businessman pleaded guilty to paying a 250,000-ruble bribe to district council employees to secure a victory.
According to investigators, former Voronezh Deputy Mayor Yuri Bavykin and his assistant Svetlana Vaskova may have received 6.5 million rubles from nine city and regional Duma deputies for their assistance in securing their election victory, but they provided no actual support.
The remaining deputies, who were named as victims in the case, testified that they had handed over the money and were released from liability. Prytykin made no such statements and ultimately emerged as the only defendant charged with attempted bribery.
