On the morning of April 27, blogger and author of the “Marathon of Wishes” course, Elena Blinovskaya, was arrested as she tried to cross the border in a rental car. She is suspected of large-scale tax evasion and money laundering (part 2 of article 198, paragraph “b” of part 4 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigative committee, Blinovskaya used the company’s “split” scheme, her husband, who is said to have registered at least 14 companies, is in the case in witness status.
What is known about the detention of Elena Blinovskaya Russian media told here.
The probability that Elena Blinovskaya will be arrested is quite high, says Ivan Yagolovich, a lawyer and partner at the consulting firm Nomen. According to him, the reason may be that the blogger was detained at the border with the participation of the FSB, which “simply does not get involved in such tax matters.”
The punishment under the same Blinovskaya articles – 174 and 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – can be quite severe, the lawyer noted.
“According to article 198, it is a small burden, not a lot – up to three years. And according to 174, everything is adult. She has a particularly large size there, part 2 of article 198, since she has the crush, in this situation her husband can still get in there as an accomplice. He is currently a witness. Then she also has a ‘group of people’ added to everything else,” Yagolovych said.
At the same time, the Blinovskaya case, according to the lawyer, can end quite quickly. According to him, the statute of limitations under the article on tax evasion (198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) may expire now – under articles of minor gravity it is two years.
“That is to say, she checked 2021, relatively speaking, the first quarter, and then the statute of limitations expires from the new year. That is to say, in fact, she still has six months, it will stop anyway, because during such a time they will not even transfer her to court, they will not have time, ”the lawyer is sure.
Investigative Commission of the Russian Federation / TASS
The charge under the second article, on the legalization or laundering of money obtained by criminal means (174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), is more serious, Yagolovich believes. This article is considered serious when it comes to a particularly large size and a crime committed by a group of people by prior agreement. The statute of limitations in this case is ten years and the maximum penalty is seven years in prison. Among the penalties provided for in the income legalization article are also forced labor for up to five years with restriction of freedom and prohibition of certain activities, a fine corresponding to the amount of income of the convicted person for a period of up to at five years old.
The lawyer did not exclude that under article 174, Blinovskaya could be sentenced to an actual sentence and also placed under arrest for the duration of the investigative actions – if they can prove that she tried to escape the country, knowing the interest of the security forces.
“The question is whether they are likely to take her into custody, although in fact there is a reason if they can prove that someone tipped her off. But since the FSB has caught, she might be bugged or something, because that’s none of their business, but catching some kind of bribery, that’s their story, so they might show up there, but if she got information from someone, it will not be his composition, but the one who leaked the information – that is, it will not affect him, ”Yagolovich is sure.
However, the prosecution may encounter difficulties in substantiating it, since the article on the regularization of income, according to him, “is not specific to tax cases”.
“There, the corpus delicti is formed from the concealment of the proceeds of crime, and since these are taxes, she received no income, she simply did not pay her own money. That is, if she returned the tax, the tax office passed that tax on to her, and then she spent that money on something, that’s 174.1 in its purest form. As she does, it is a very controversial article. I am not at all sure that she will hold up,” he explained.
“That is to say that the Inquiry Committee is now practicing this, but it is not known whether it will pass in a court like this. There are some decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, and it does not describe very clearly what can be investigated in these cases. It is possible that under article 174, everything will stop. But they will specifically get on his nerves, ”Yagolovich is sure.
The attorney also pointed out that law enforcement was “dealing with bloggers two years ago.” The ongoing trials, in particular against Valeria Chekalina and Alexandra Mitroshina, according to him, are the result of checks that have lasted for two years.
“Colleagues from the tax department worked on all the major bloggers two years ago, it’s another matter that most bloggers have worked out these issues – either they successfully defended themselves or they paid taxes), but they reached such a story of only one,” Yagolovitch concluded.
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