The Voronezh Region Office of the Investigative Committee has dropped charges against a 47-year-old CEO. The man was accused of tax evasion under Part 1 of Article 199.1 of the RF Criminal Code. The probe was opened based on the materials provided by the Voronezh Region Police Department and tax check data.

According to investigators, from January to October 2016, the CEO of the road repair and construction company failed to pay some 9 million rubles in income tax.

He used the money to settle with suppliers and contractors, buyers and customers, debtors and lenders, to pay short and long-term loans, which exceeded the tax debt many times. This way, he made it look like the company was doing fine and was solvent and built an image of successful and competent manager.

During preliminary investigation, the man fully compensated for the damage to the Russian budget, which taking into account all the default interest and fines exceeded 11.4 million rubles.

The man has no previous convictions for tax evasion. The charges were dropped in accordance with the current legislation which states that a person who has committed a tax crime for the first time can be absolved from punishment if that person has paid all the arrears, default interest and fines.