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The case of Chinese silver: the top manager of Haier in Naberezhnye Chelny burned on smuggling

Обновлено 06.03.2024 05:30

 

In accordance with the current legislation, in case of detection of the fact of illegal movement of goods across the customs border, payment of additional customs duties may be made either by the owner of the goods voluntarily or forcibly by decision of the customs authority. As part of the criminal prosecution of a committed crime, the head and other members of an organized group will be involved as defendants from the organization. At the same time, if the additional payments are not paid by the organization, the amount of damage caused to the state will be recovered from the defendants. In the case of voluntary compensation by Haier for 24,297,671.24 rubles of damage, this circumstance will reduce the punishment of the plant director Wang Shouzhong and other defendants in this criminal case.

Cases of smuggling (Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), perhaps, should be attributed to one of the most curious in the Russian Federation. Whatever the case, it's a whole novel or a feuilleton. A smile is caused either by a description of the smuggling process (from "a packed suitcase" to "a few grams after dozens of trips"), or a description of the reasons why the crime was detected. A huge proportion of the detected crimes are committed not by professional smugglers, but by ordinary citizens who either forgot to declare the item being transported properly, or simply did not familiarize themselves with the rules of import/export of goods.

But sometimes the plot of a criminal case is puzzling. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, personal protective equipment (masks, suits) were recognized as dual-use goods, which required the organizations that exported them to declare accordingly. And after all, in fact, the transportation of PPE is carried out in order to save the most precious thing - human life, but formally, according to the law, this is a crime.

The public danger in the history of the Haier company in the Republic of Tatarstan is very similar to the example of the PPE mentioned above. The media reported that the crime of smuggling about 4 tons of silver across the border of China and Russia has been revealed. However, the damage from such a supply to the budget of the Russian Federation amounted to about 25 million rubles. This is objectively not the scale of the crime of the year in terms of the amount of damage. And the transportation was not silver, but solder, which contained this silver.

And most importantly, the import was carried out at the request of the head of the company, which invested much more money in the Russian economy (including in the budget of the Russian Federation). The case is of great foreign economic importance, and its results can affect both the economies of the two countries and their political relations.

Perhaps, it was for such situations that one of the most ingenious and effective institutions of criminal procedure was created, which is provided for in Article 28.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation - termination of criminal prosecution in connection with compensation for damage. This article establishes the possibility to terminate criminal prosecution if the accused has compensated for the damage caused to the budget of the Russian Federation. It is better for the state to receive the designated money in the budget than to spend the budget on the maintenance of another prisoner.

However, this rule, regardless of the amount and circumstances, is provided exclusively for non-payment of taxes and fees, and in terms of non-payment of customs duties, the possibility of termination is provided only for parts 1 and Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If there was the participation of an official or an organized group, then there will be no need to talk about such a reason for the termination of criminal prosecution.

In the case of Haier, a criminal case was initiated under Part 4 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since, according to the investigation, there is a qualifying feature - an organized criminal group. However, it is worth noting that in this case there are no signs of an "organized group" in the actions of Haier employees. The organized group in this article implies an international cartel with a distribution of roles and the participation of a number of people with different tasks united by one goal - the smuggling of silver. Well, how could it be in this case? I am sure that Haier has earned respect for itself with its decent reputation in the Russian market, which is enough for a fair qualification of the event. This is especially true in connection with the latest statements by Haier, which explained that it is ready to fully compensate the Russian Federation for the damage caused.

It seems that law enforcement agencies have "tightened the screws" too much in this situation and, chasing self-realization, neglect the criminal law and the foreign economic interests of the country. Solomon's solution appears by itself as soon as we see the correct qualification of what we have done. Even if we assume that a crime really took place, it was committed in any case on a particularly large scale (paragraph "d" of part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). And if it was committed not by one person, then it was certainly committed not by an organized group, but by a group of persons by prior agreement (paragraph "a" of Part 2 of art. 194 OF the Criminal Code OF the Russian Federation).

At the same time, it does not matter whether a crime was committed alone (for example, couriers were not aware that they were transporting solder as contraband) or by a group of persons by prior agreement, the qualification will still be according to part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Even if the deed is qualified in the most severe way, it was committed by a group of persons by prior agreement and on an especially large scale, which makes it possible to qualify the deed under Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and provides for the possibility after repayment of customs duties to terminate criminal prosecution on the basis of Part 3 of Article 28.1 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. As they say, "the sheep are safe and the wolves are well fed."

Indeed, there was information in the press that a draft law on the creation and operation of a unified state online housing Rental platform has already been prepared and is being discussed in the Government.

According to the authors of the bill, such a platform should increase the transparency of rental transactions, increase tax collection, and give tenants guarantees that the contract with them will not be terminated without trial at their first desire.

In his speech, Mutko said that in order to launch this system, it is necessary to make appropriate amendments to the current legislation.

And, indeed, at the moment, the legislation does not provide for any mandatory registration of contracts for both rental housing and commercial hiring.

The question arises whether such registration on the online platform will be made mandatory, which is unlikely. If so, which government agency will be responsible for it.

Who will be responsible for possible errors and false information posted in the system and so on. Who will reimburse the losses that may occur to users as a result of a system failure or error.

Or it will be a voluntary system with some kind of increased guarantees and services for users.

In general, so far there are more questions than answers.

As for the agreements already concluded, then, of course, they will remain in effect, since the law is not retroactive in any case.