“The investigative unit of the Investigation Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Mari El has completed the investigation of a criminal case against thirteen members of an organized group accused of illegal banking activities.

The offenders registered about eighty fictitious firms and carried out cash-out transactions of various commercial organizations through their accounts. They kept four percent of the turnover for themselves.

According to bank statements, the defendants for three years, starting with 2014, cashed about two billion rubles. Their income amounted to over eighty million rubles, of which about thirteen million rubles were legalized.

The first criminal case was instituted in May 2017. In June of that year, officers of the Administration for Economic Security and Combating the Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Mari El detained fifteen members of the organized group.

During searches in office premises and organizations related to their illegal activities, financial documents, computer equipment, a banknote counter, a video recorder, seals and stamps, mobile phones with SIM cards, bank cards, data storage devices and other items were seized.

Currently, the criminal case with the indictment approved by the prosecutor has been sent to the Yoshkar-Ola city court for consideration on the merits.

Two of the 15 members of the organized group who entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the investigation had a previous criminal record,” said the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk.