The Šiauliai District Court announced that this is one of the largest VAT fraud and money laundering cases – the damage to the state amounted to more than 12 million euros, of which more than 8 million euros were legalized by cashing out. One legal entity and five individuals were found guilty and will have to compensate the state for property damage exceeding 9 million euros.
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- There are five individuals on the defendants’ bench: four Lithuanian citizens – Mindaugas Žalimas, Martynas Žalimas, Žygimantas Kubilius, Audrius Lokcikas, and Latvian citizen Agnis Anderson.
- And the sixth – a legal entity, the bankrupt private limited company “Minsandra,” for whose benefit the criminal activities may have been carried out.
One of the main organizers of the criminal schemes, a resident of Mažeikiai known to law enforcement since 1994 and previously convicted 13 times, Mindaugas Žalimas, was sentenced by the court to a final combined imprisonment of seven years, including another previous sentence. His son Martynas was fined 18,830 euros, Ž. Kubilius was fined 37,660 euros, A. Lokcikas was fined 37,660 euros, and Latvian citizen A. Anderson was sentenced to four years in prison.
After the verdict became final, A. Anderson must serve six months of imprisonment immediately, with the execution of the remaining prison sentence deferred for three years. The convicted person was also ordered by the court to compensate the property damage within three years as a criminal enforcement measure.
The legal entity, now bankrupt company “Minsandra,” was sentenced by the court to liquidation.
The court partially satisfied the civil plaintiffs’ claims. By court decision, four convicts (except Kubilius) and “Minsandra” must compensate the State Tax Inspectorate for property damage amounting to 8,137,000 euros, and convicts A. Lokcikas and Ž. Kubilius must also jointly compensate the Klaipėda County State Tax Inspectorate for property damage of 1,007,000 euros.
The criminal activities were committed between 2014 and 2016. To legalize the criminally obtained money, several chains of fictitious transactions were used. The court found that companies engaged in wholesale trade of petroleum products, unfairly competing to reduce the prices of petroleum products sold to gas station networks, involved fictitious purchase and sale transactions in their business schemes, thereby fraudulently reducing the amount of taxes payable to the state to lower the wholesale prices of petroleum products sold.
The petroleum products were traded and criminal VAT evasion and money laundering schemes were carried out by an organized group, which included the main organizer M. Žalimas, who was still in prison at the time, his son M. Žalimas, and other persons. This organized group, to avoid paying VAT to the Lithuanian budget, created chains of fictitious transactions between companies they actually controlled and acquired but did not operate, whose directors were antisocial persons appointed for 50–100 euros.
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When it was time to pay taxes to the state, the non-operating companies were disposed of without paying VAT and profit taxes. M. Žalimas and his accomplices falsified documents of the fictitious companies they actually controlled and acquired – including non-existent mutual transactions in accounting, fraudulently managing the accounting of legal entities.
The Mažeikiai resident used his controlled fictitious companies – supposedly buying large quantities of electronics, precious metals, coffee, etc. from his accomplice – a Latvian citizen – who controlled fictitious 27 Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish companies, one Czech, and one financial institution registered in Panama. Latvian citizen A. Anderson, using the details of his non-operating companies, issued invoices and received payment for allegedly sold goods, then cashed out this money and, keeping his share, returned the rest to M. Žalimas.
The ages of the convicts range from 32 to 59 years. The court heard 61 witnesses.
According to the case data, in 2014–2016, the amount of such transfers exceeded 8 million euros, most of which could have been controlled by the main defendant for his own needs. The accomplice group operated in an organized manner, with members assigned roles – instructions from the main scheme mastermind were given only through intermediaries. Members of the organized group changed phones, used SIM cards registered abroad, and exchanged information via phone apps.
The indictment alone in this 109-volume case comprises 400 pages. The ages of the convicts range from 32 to 59 years. The court heard 61 witnesses.
This verdict is not final and can be appealed to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal.
