Criminal group suspected of tax evasion and money laundering – broken up by prosecutors and police officers
Prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Municipality of Balti, together with officers of the Northern Investigation Department of the National Investigation Inspectorate and of the Balti Police Inspectorate, have documented the illegal activity of a group of persons suspected of organizing fraudulent tax evasion and money laundering schemes on a particularly large scale, in a criminal case brought under the elements of the offences of money laundering on a particularly large scale and tax evasion (Article 243(3)(b) and Article 244 of the Criminal Code). (2)(b) of the Criminal Code).
According to the prosecution materials, from the beginning of 2020 until now, members of a criminal group in the north of the country, pursuing the purpose of evading taxes and obtaining “cash” money, created a criminal scheme of counterfeiting and selling alcoholic products.
During the prosecution, it was established that each member of the group had a pre-established role: purchasing ethyl alcohol without documents of origin, preparing packaging and containers, preparing counterfeit alcoholic beverages and selling them both to individuals and economic agents throughout the country.
As a result of several searches carried out on 15.08.2023 by police officers, 22,153 empty bottles with a volume of 0.5-0.7 l with counterfeit labels allegedly belonging to well-known companies producing alcoholic beverages in the country, 765 litres of golden-yellow alcohol and 125 litres of colourless alcohol, including 395 litres of ethyl alcohol, as well as 1,500 counterfeit excise stamps were detected and seized. At the same time, cash amounting to more than 500,000 lei was detected and seized. Four persons suspected of involvement in the offences were detained for 72 hours and five others are being investigated.
