The Cabinet of Ministers plans to consider amendments to the Criminal Code, mitigating penalties for tax crimes, already at the next meeting on Wednesday, Kommersant found out.
The day before, the government commission for legislative activities approved the draft reforms to the Penal Code. In particular, according to the bill, the investigator will be obliged to terminate criminal proceedings or refuse to initiate them if the employer has paid all arrears and fines.
The document also proposes reducing prosecution periods for tax crimes. Its authors believe that the maximum penalty provided for in articles 199-199.2 of the Penal Code should be reduced from six or seven years in prison to five years. Article 199.4 proposes reducing the maximum penalty to three years. Now the article provides for up to four years in prison. The proposed reforms reclassify these items in the category of crimes of small and medium severity.
The bill was prepared in compliance with the April decree of the President of the Russian Federation, which later ordered to reduce the negative impact on the economy.
As an informed government source told the publication, disagreements arose between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance during work on the project.
If the amendments are approved at a meeting on February 22, the document will be submitted to the State Duma.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
