The Brest region prosecutor’s office has sent a criminal case on tax fraud to court. Charges have been brought against a 53-year-old founder of a garment manufacturing company, its 67-year-old director, and a 50-year-old director of an affiliated company in Russia.
According to investigators, the company’s founder organised a scheme to unlawfully reclaim the difference between input tax deductions and VAT charged on sales. Between 2019 and 2024, garments were sold to Russian buyers through intermediaries that did not actually take part in commercial activities.
“The second defendant — the head of the garment company — acting in the role assigned by the founder, set final prices for goods supplied to affiliated foreign companies in a way that enabled VAT refunds. These companies then sold the goods to end buyers at understated prices, which allowed the garment firm to underreport revenue and unlawfully reclaim VAT from the state budget”, the statement said.
The third defendant, a director of a Russian company, helped distribute revenue so as not to exceed thresholds set for the simplified taxation system.
“Over the course of the illegal activity, the Belarusian garment company underpaid more than 1.6 million rubles in profit tax. During the preliminary investigation, the damage caused was fully compensated”, the prosecutor’s office added.
The accused have been placed under non-custodial preventive measures.
