A criminal group consisting of tax, customs, bank employees, deputy mayor, and entrepreneurs has been identified

As a result of operational-search activities conducted by the DXX, the activities of a criminal group consisting of 17 tax office employees, 1 customs officer, 1 bank employee, 1 first deputy district governor, and 18 officials of entrepreneurial entities were exposed.

It has been established that this group organized 8 fake enterprises from 2020 to 2023 and unlawfully obtained a refund of the negative difference amount of 15% value-added tax (VAT) designated for the fictitious export of furniture products abroad, embezzling a total of 24 billion 580 million soums of budget funds.

The activities of the criminal group were coordinated by a former employee of the tax authorities, and this individual unofficially led the enterprises that were registered in the Yangiqo‘rg‘on district of Namangan region, although their legal addresses were unjustifiably changed frequently, with names of individuals unrelated to the business being listed as official leaders. Additionally, although the type of activity of the enterprises was designated as furniture manufacturing, in reality, they did not carry out any production.

Furthermore, the reports indicated that supposedly produced finished products were exported to Kyrgyzstan.

However, during the inspection process, it was revealed that no export operations had been conducted, the seals of the enterprises were forged by the organized group, export contracts were fabricated, and the above-mentioned value-added tax funds were illegally refunded from the state budget.

Based on the situation, a criminal case was initiated under Articles 167, 179, 184, 209, and 228 of the Criminal Code, and investigative actions were carried out.

During the investigation, 6 billion 808 million soums were recovered to the state. Additionally, to compensate for the damages, property worth 6 billion 300 million soums was seized, including 1 multi-story private medical clinic building, 1 car wash branch, 2 residential apartments, 6 vehicles, as well as telephone and computer equipment.

In the criminal case, the Mirzo Ulug‘bek district court sentenced 14 out of 38 defendants to imprisonment for a term of 5 years and 6 months to 7 years and 6 months.

Moreover, various terms of imprisonment were imposed on 18 individuals, with a mandatory obligation to compensate for the material damage within 2 years, applying Article 72 of the Criminal Code, along with a probation period of 3 years.

Additionally, a restriction of freedom sentence for a term of not less than 2 years was imposed on 6 of the defendants.