Tax Ministry Set To Persecute Tax Debtors

The Russian Tax Ministry will initiate criminal proceedings against the chiefs of those enterprises, which have not restructured their tax debts to the budget, Russian Tax Minister Gennadiy Bukayev was quoted as saying today. In his opinion, the main aim of the ministry is to change the leadership of state-owned and private enterprises, which have not sorted out their tax debts. "We also have the right, and we are going to exercise it, to open criminal cases against the chiefs of such companies," the minister stressed. Presently, the Tax Ministry decided to restructure tax liabilities worth RR166bn (about $5.59bn). A total of 21,399 companies applied to tax officials for debt restructuring for an amount of RUR219bn (about $7.37bn). After December 1, 2001, the Tax Ministry will consider the possibility of selling tax debts to other enterprises.