A verdict has been handed down in Almaty in a case involving the smuggling of goods from China and the issuance of fake invoices on an especially large scale.
According to the press service of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM), Group of the Companies TDA LLP, while holding the status of an authorised economic operator, illegally imported more than 100 containers of consumer goods from the People's Republic of China.
It was also established that the defendants used enterprises under their control — ten LLPs — to draw up fictitious invoices.
The damage linked to non-payment of VAT, corporate income tax (CIT) and customs duties amounted to 10 billion tenge.
During the pre-trial investigation, funds totalling 643 million tenge were reimbursed to the state. The court also imposed a seizure on goods worth 1.3 billion tenge and property belonging to the suspects valued at 300 million tenge.
"Furthermore, 47 enterprises that are counterparties of the Partnership have voluntarily reversed mutual settlements and paid taxes amounting to 240 million tenge," the statement said.
In the end, the Almaly District Court of Almaty found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to terms of imprisonment ranging from 1.4 to 4.6 years, with confiscation of property. One of the offenders has been placed on an international wanted list.
Recall that earlier, the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) reported that Kazakhstan lags behind other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in terms of the number of goods subject to labelling. As noted, the country still lacks an approved methodology for determining priorities in product labelling.