Vaukavysk Businessman Mikalai Autukhovich Faces the Threat of 7 Year Imprisonment and Property Confiscation

Mikalai Autukhovich is threatened with imprisonment for avoiding large taxes. Mr. Autukhovich is in the investigative center of Hrodna prison, where he was taken on 14 October late in the evening.
According to Nadzeia Stankievich, his lawer, cases against businessmen for avoiding taxes are quite common today. However, as regards Mikalai Autukhovich, everything happened very fast: On 14 October he was first found to be a suspect in the case and then – an accused one.
The action was brought by terms of the second part of Article 243 of the Criminal Code that concerns the avoidance of taxes and imposts that has exerted large scale damages. The taxes that the competent bodies have calculated (679 million rubles) include a two year period from 1 May 2003 (the day Presidential Decree No.4 was issued) to 1 August this year. This amount is more than 26 thousand basic units. Because of this Mikalai Autukhovich may be sent to prison for three to seven years, with possible confiscation of the property.
Not all of the taxi drivers know about Autukhovich's arrest, but this came as a shock for everyone. Mikalai Autukhovich did not expect that the authorities would arrest him and institute criminal proceedings against him. He believes he was lured into such a situation.
"I was asked to read the examination report and showed a count of charges, which means deception, so to say", this was what Mikalai Autukhovich had the time to tell Radio Liberty before the arrest.