Eldorado's Moscow office being searched - Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - The Russian Investigative Committee is conducting a search at the Moscow office of Eldorado, a leading Russian retailer of consumer electronics and household appliances, as part of an inquiry into claims of large-scale tax evasion, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
The committee's St. Petersburg branch has accused the Telebalt company, which delivered products to Eldorado, of failing to transfer more than 537 million rubles in taxes to the budget, he said.
"Investigators from the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Investigative Committee are conducting a search at Eldorado's Moscow office together with Russian Interior Ministry officers in order to analyze financial and business relations between Telebalt and Eldorado through bogus companies," Markin said.
Telebalt and Eldorado are suspected of setting up fly-by-night firms in order to avoid paying VAT and the profit tax. These companies - OOO DITEK, OOO Alfa-Stil, OOO ExpoResurs, OOO VneshTorgTekhnika, OOO Nika, OOO TopSkit, OOO Komintorg, OOO InTrade, OOO Koral Plus and OOO Elips Grupp - carried most of the tax burden, according to their documents.
