Based on pre-investigative check the Main Investigations Directorates of the Russia’s Investigative Committee for Moscow and Saint-Petersburg have opened five criminal cases into crimes under part 4 of article 159 of the RF Penal Code (fraud), after illegal financial transactions carried out by travel agencies Labyrinth, Windrose World, Ideal-Tour, Neva and Expo-Tour damaging tens of thousands of people. The Investigative Committee has also started procedural checks regarding suspension of activity of other travel agencies.
Investigators believe that the owners of the said companies aware of large debts to their partners and not having any opportunity to pay them off continued to receive money from citizens for tours and misleading them about their intentions and real opportunities to fulfill their obligations and organize tours. Basically the activity of the said travel agencies turned into a financial pyramid. When their partners refused to accept or transport the tourists declared that they suspended of their activities or termination. The actions of the said travel agencies made it impossible for the citizens who had paid for their package tours to leave Russia for holiday, while those who had spent their holidays abroad could not return to the country on time. Tens of thousands of tourists suffered material damage.
During the probes the investigators are going to examine financial activity of the travel agencies, check its legality, identify the amount of damage, and prosecute all owners and heads of companies responsible for wrongdoings. The investigators already know founders, owners and heads of the travel agencies. In Saint-Petersburg offices and residences of some of them have already been searched and financial documents confiscated. The investigators in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg are taking measures to establish property of agencies that can be arrested for further reimbursement of losses.
Additional, the investigators are going to assess actions or omission of state officials who control and supervise so that citizen’s rights observed in the area of tourism were.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
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