Typical Investigative Situations of the Initial Stage of the Investigation Legalisation (Laundering) of Property Obtained as a Result of Tax Evasion

Abstract

Based on an analysis of the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine, it is evident that the shadow sector of the national economy is intensifying. Its fictitious component has acquired a global scale, which consists in the withdrawal of significant financial resources from the legal economic sector by illegal means, the redistribution of billions of dollars in profits in favour of individual business entities, and the outflow of capital abroad, which determines the relevance of this study. The purpose of the study is to establish typical investigative situations of the initial stage of investigation of legalisation (laundering) of property obtained as a result of committing a tax crime. A system of general scientific and special research methods was used to achieve this goal, the main of which are comparative, comparative legal, logical and legal, statistical, and modelling. Typical investigative situations were systematised (depending on the established initial information, its nature and specifics regarding the number and reliability of data containing verification materials at the stage of entering information in the Unified Register of pre-trial investigations; procedural consequences of entering information in the Unified Register of pre-trial investigations related to the identification of the person who committed the crime; characteristics of sources of initial information about the crime, and the degree of awareness of interested persons about the progress and prospects of the investigation; degree of validity and volume of collected evidence regarding the predicate crime) and the areas of investigation and the algorithm for conducting procedural actions inherent in each stage in different investigative situations were proposed. It is established that investigative situations at the initial stage affect the definition of the tasks of investigation of legalisation (laundering) of property obtained as a result of tax evasion: establishing the event, method and subject of a criminal offence; identifying and exposing the persons who committed it; determining the nature and amount of damage caused by a criminal offence; identifying and procedurally consolidating traces of a crime; establishing links between tax evasion and other offences; identifying the causes and conditions that contributed to the commission of illegal acts (with a legal response to their elimination). The obtained results will help optimise the initial stage of investigation of crimes of this category and eliminate threats to the economic security of the state related to the sphere of taxation.