Erase your money

A society with unlimited irresponsibility
Up to 90% of businessmen use the services of one-day firms
Tatiana Zamakhina, Moskovsky Komsomolets, 24.06.2011

Phantom firms are the black holes of our economy, where, according to various estimates, from 1 to 8 trillion disappears every year. rubles'. Where the money "sails away", the correspondent of "MK" followed "through the eyes" of ordinary entrepreneurs who are hiding from suffocating taxes, the "laundresses" themselves, laundering shadow money, scientists who are sitting at a broken trough because of this system... And, of course, the officials themselves, thanks to whose efforts it is absolutely impossible to imagine the Russian economy without cashing out.

Cash transfer– Paying all taxes is a sign of bad taste, – entrepreneur Igor, whose company is engaged in printing, is sure.

Igor calculated that it makes no sense for a small business to work "in white" in our country – it's easier not to open at all. "Last month we earned 300 thousand rubles minus wages and rent. With this money, I had to give the state more than 130 thousand rubles in taxes. And in fact I gave 30 thousand!" – says the businessman, showing a sign in Exel. It turns out that Igor's salary fund is understated by more than three times, and 300 thousand were spent on cashing out.

However, Igor gave another 20 thousand rubles for the cashing process itself, because the fee for "pleasure" is 7%. But it's still much more profitable to deal with "laundering" offices than to be honest with the state. Saving on taxes even for Igor's small company – 80 thousand a month! Some of his fellow entrepreneurs have up to half of their income.

What is given to the state from such a scheme shrinks before our eyes: the payment of income tax is reduced by the amount of expenses incurred, and due to deductions it is possible to save on VAT. In addition, the entrepreneur receives unaccounted cash in his hands, some of which he gives to subordinates in envelopes, and spends the rest at his discretion.

Igor is saved from taxes by someone named Maxim – the entrepreneur found out about this person with the help of word of mouth. Maxim's firms do not live long and – according to the version for the state – provide consulting services. In fact, Igor, of course, does not receive any services. He transfers his 300 thousand to the account of one of Maximov's one-day firms, then the money is scrolled through the chain of shell companies and returned to the entrepreneur. Naturally, minus 7%. Let the tax authorities check it out – you won't find fault!

Igor and I are going to Strelka to pick up the "laundered" cash. The meeting is scheduled in the courtyard of a house in the center of Moscow – the coordinates change every time. The transfer is fast. Maxim – a man with a GAB bearing – passes a package with money, asks the attendant "how are you? "and is removed. Maximovsky's "Horns and Hooves" have an office in the center of Moscow, and there is a whole staff of accountants sitting there, says Igor. He doesn't know anything else about his "partner" and doesn't want to know.

Igor's small office often plays the role of an intermediary in the Russian cashing network itself: "We work with several larger organizations that do not want to "shine". We allegedly provide services to them, but in fact we cash out money through Maxim, screwing ourselves a couple of percent."

Recently, word of mouth brought a regional division of one of the state–owned companies to Igor - they are asking to cash out 90 million rubles within six months. "They probably have hundreds of intermediaries like us," the entrepreneur suggests.

More and more businessmen are following in Igor's footsteps – ranks of newcomers and those who previously decided to work "in the white" go to the "shadow". Due to the massive return of business to the "envelopes", extra-budgetary funds may not receive about 800 billion rubles, or almost 1.5% of GDP, the Center for Strategic Research estimates. After the explosive growth of social payments (for the "simplified" they jumped from 14 to 34%), honest relations with the state became completely unprofitable. Now it turns out like this: a businessman "in white" transferred, say, a hundred rubles to an employee, and the budget was replenished by 71 rubles! Thus, the state "punishes" the entrepreneur for wage labor. The options for reducing social payments that the government is considering seem to the businessmen interviewed by MK to be fiction and unsubscription.

The owner of the "laundry"The very 800 billion that could have found a better use, disappear into the black holes of cash.

"About 90% of Moscow businessmen hide money from the state," one of the saviors of small business from brutal taxes knows. Sergey (let's call him that) has already given up "laundering" activities and agrees to talk about his past "mission" on condition of anonymity.

Sergey joined the cashing system seven years ago – then the procedure cost entrepreneurs negligible by today's standards from 0.2 to 0.3% of the transaction amount. "But then the state formally declared war on the "black" cash – demonstration raids, revocation of licenses from banks and other tinsel began," says Sergey. – There was no less cashing - from 2005 to 2007, it rose in price by 7-11%." It turned out to be a paradox: the more the Central Bank took away licenses, the more actively the financial "laundry" unfolded (by the way, Alexey Mamontov, president of the Moscow International Monetary Association, also speaks frankly about this. – T.Z.).

– A one–day girl, contrary to the name, can live for six months, - says my interlocutor. – From 50 to 100 million rubles are driven through one office, after which it can be written off. Only in the Moscow region, hundreds of millions of dollars are rolled through cashing every month. Can you imagine the scale of the market?

– But it has become more difficult to open such "Horns and hooves" because of the introduction of new rules! The tax authorities require the personal presence of the applicant, so now you can't register a fake company with a lost foreign passport! Isn't that right?

– There are no fewer shell companies, only queues for registration have grown. Instead of a courier who used to carry documents from 10-20 companies at once, the papers are now handed over by the CEOs themselves. Go to the tax office and look at the live queue: there are 40% students.

– "Zitspredsedateli" – like a Pound from the "Golden Calf"?

– Yes, these are those citizens who want to earn money without straining, and take risks for a measly 5-30 thousand rubles. After all, it would seem that all you need is to provide documents and sign the necessary papers. With a proposal to earn extra money, a student can be approached even on the street, campaigning is actively conducted on social networks. Theoretically, it is possible to register a company with a stolen passport and a fake power of attorney by bribes. But students are cheaper and safer. Dozens of companies can be registered for one "zitspredsedatel".

– And then these comrades also serve as "directors of detention"?

– It was, they even planted it for several years, but this is rare. For example, if the nominal head of the company signs invoices for non-existent goods, then it can still be proved that he was well aware that he was engaged in illegal activities.

– Why are students who register one-dayers not being turned away?

– But you can't. Any number of one–day cards can be issued for one person in a short period of time: only four to seven days. After all, the registering authorities have no obligation to check the documents for the registration of a legal entity.

No horns, no hoovesThe former tax savior Sergey shows me the "bank – client" system with the help of a laptop – with the help of it, the bank accounts of shell companies are managed.

Formally, it looks like payment orders are sent and signed by nominal CEOs. It turns out that one–dayers, popularly referred to as "garbage cans", look no different from normal firms - they are serviced by accountants and submit regular reports. Everything seems to be specially arranged so that phantom companies can flourish…

To make a one-day company disappear (in the slang of entrepreneurs – "bury"), the same shell companies are used. The standard "funeral" is joining or merging with another such "dump", but from a distant region. The chain of mergers can be so long that traces of a disappeared company can be searched for years.

– The cashing market is clearly organized, – Sergey draws an extensive scheme in a notebook. – There is a kind of management center that builds interaction with supervisory authorities, acquires banks, etc. Further – purchased credit organizations, of which there may be several. The third element is the organizers of one–day parties, which should be as many as possible so that it is more difficult to trace the route of money. "Drops" can participate in the system – these are the same students and other poor people who are attracted to withdraw cash from ATMs in "portions".

Scheme from the Reference Guide on Combating Money Laundering
and the Financing of terrorism (World Bank, 2005) – WM.

And this is not all possible participants: the scheme includes postal operators, electronic payment systems, pawnshops, consumer cooperatives of citizens, etc. Provide "non-core services" and insurance companies, as well as securities market participants: they withdraw funds abroad under the guise of reinsurance or purchase of securities.

One of the novelties is the transfer of funds for an allegedly valuable patent. And try to prove that, as they say, the bicycle has been invented again! Also, funds can be invested in a bank under the guise of a term deposit – then the contract is urgently terminated, and cash is withdrawn through the cashier. An even more advanced scheme is when a contract for the provision of services with severe penalties is concluded with a one–day company. After some time, the "dumpster" admits that the services have not been performed, and returns the money with fines and penalties. In this case, it is much easier to cash them out.

Going through all this sieve, money loses its documentary connection with the client and becomes depersonalized. Small amounts can be turned inside the country, large amounts go offshore.

National kleptomaniaOnly for the sake of small businessmen – such as Igor, a network of one-dayers, sometimes covering the territories of several countries, would not have developed.

The head of the control Department of the President of Russia Konstantin Chuichenko, reporting to the president, said that only in the Central Federal District for two years 25 billion rubles were withdrawn abroad from the money that was allocated for housing and communal services. How? In tenders for the maintenance of houses and territories, companies where relatives, friends and acquaintances of officials work win. Such an organization allows the heads of housing and communal services structures to fully control financial flows.

Officials and experts represent the total amount of cashing only very approximately: according to the president of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia Anatoly Aksakov, even in a prosperous 2007, it amounted to 1 trillion rubles. According to more "cool" estimates, the volume of the black cash market is comparable to the volume of the Russian budget.

And all right, the machinations of small entrepreneurs who save themselves from suffocating taxes. In a giant "washing machine" that just does not grind into trash. For example, our science.

– It is impossible to get a grant for a scientific project from Rusnano honestly, - says a representative of medical science, who agreed to talk on this topic with MK (again anonymously – "there are no fools"). – But many in scientific circles know how the money allocated for nanodevelopment is actually being cut. For example, this way: a deliberately shoddy project is being done, firms are hired, each of which receives 1 million rubles for evaluating the project. Reviewers give a conclusion: "The project is shoddy! "Money is being chased through cashing, divided. And real projects remain without funding.

Like businessmen, recipients of budget funds launder money with the help of fictitious contracts. At the same time, cashing out is 7-9% more expensive for figures who directly steal state money than for businessmen hiding in the "shadow". The risk is greater – as, indeed, the amounts.

State corporations are sometimes caught. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that of the 130 billion rubles transferred to Rusnano in November 2007. only 10 billion rubles were mastered, of which 5 billion went to the maintenance of the corporation. Since the establishment of the state corporation, the supervisory board has approved only 36 projects in the field of nanotechnology out of more than 1.2 thousand received, and only eight were funded. And these are nanotechnologies patronized by the president, let alone the rest of the spheres! By the way, similar facts have been revealed in the activities of the Housing and Utilities Reform Assistance Fund, Olimpstroy and Rostechnologies.

WindmillsFrom the TV screens, we are convinced that there is a struggle going on with the "laundry" system.

However, law enforcement officials informally admit that this whole process looks like a fight with windmills. No one really wants to fight with the reasons that contribute to the growth of the number of fake firms.

One of the main problems is that the process of registering new companies has been simplified. There was a side effect of reducing administrative barriers, which both the president and the Prime Minister talk about so much. The Federal Tax Service has repeatedly put forward proposals to tighten the procedure for registering legal entities – for example, to return the canceled licensing procedure. But the "against barriers" campaign prevents lawmakers from taking this step. Another initiative, supported by the president, has a much greater chance of being imprisoned for creating a one–day program for five years. After all, penny fines do not frighten anyone, if the benefit is millions. Meanwhile, the measure again fits into the general concept. They will put all the same "zitspredsedateli" who have fallen for easy prey, who will now begin to play the role of real "directors of detention".

The process of withdrawing "laundered" funds abroad was also facilitated for the "garbage collectors". Previously, payers transferring money to a foreign company's account were required by law to reserve an amount equivalent to 25% of the payment in the Central Bank. Then this norm was abolished in order to liberalize legislation. Which the criminals immediately took advantage of. Now it is enough to specify the purpose of the payment and safely send money.

The purposes of payments, which are covered by "money laundering", at the same time can be the most senile. For example, one of the Moscow furniture stores signed an agreement with an Estonian consulting company to conduct research on the Antarctic shelf. The furniture makers were going to explore the possibility of oil production and transferred an advance of $500 million abroad for this noble cause.

Suspicious operations seem to be monitored by Rosfinmonitoring employees. But there are only 500 of them, and they receive up to 36 million suspicious transaction reports a day. In such a flow, it is simply unrealistic for them to identify really criminal schemes, says Anatoly Aksakov, president of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia. What can we say about monitoring transactions purchased by "money laundering" banks?

The Central Bank is also watching. But, as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Alexander Buksman publicly stated, fifteen hundred employees of the Central Bank own shares of commercial banks, which they also supervise.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.06.2011