OBEP check: what to fear and how to resist it

Everyone is well aware of the existence of so-called inspections carried out by employees of economic security units.
You can carry out business activities for quite a long time and not encounter such problems. But what to do if you are interested? As a rule, this happens unexpectedly. In order to protect yourself from the negative consequences of inspections, you need to have information. When conducting inspections, employees of economic security units are guided by the Law of the Russian Federation of February 7, 2011 No. 3-FZ “On Police”, Federal Law of August 12, 1995 No. 144-FZ “On Operational-Investigative Activities”. The procedure for the implementation by employees of economic security units of operational support of criminal cases initiated on facts of violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on taxes and fees is regulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation dated December 18, 2001 174-FZ.

Legal basis

OBEP is the previously existing abbreviation of the institution. Now it has been renamed OEBiPK . It stands for the following: Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption. The structure deals with serious issues in the field of protecting and protecting the economic security of our country. Within the framework of criminal law, the institution deals with issues related to violations related to the crimes specified in Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – fraud.

In addition, the structure deals with issues of administrative violations included in Art. 7.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – petty theft.

The difference between these articles lies only in the social danger, which is expressed in financial terms.
According to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation , cases are considered when fraudulent schemes are identified, when the damage to the victims does not exceed 2,500 rubles . If the amount of fraud turns out to be significantly higher, then the punishment will be imposed in accordance with the Criminal Code.

Reasons for complaints to OEBiPK (OBEP)

There are many legal grounds for filing a complaint, here are just a few:

On these grounds, you can complain about the organization.

In addition, a worker can file a complaint against an employer if:

• the employee is not registered, he can be left without work at any time, without any explanations or social guarantees, the fact of violations is obvious;
• if employees are not officially registered, it means that the employer does not pay payments to the state budget, and therefore it is possible that he is also concealing profits, which is detrimental to the state treasury.

To begin with, you can contact the labor inspectorate if they do not want to officially employ you. The control body does not respond to your requests? Then feel free to write to the Department for Combating Economic Crimes (OBEP). In this case, the issue will be resolved immediately.

Schemes and persons involved in scams

Legal entities (credit fraud)

Legal entities are the subject of fraud most often when obtaining loans from a bank, using in this case entire criminal schemes.

To do this, representatives of the front legal entity create an imitation of the structure’s activities:

1. register a new LLC or other business entity with a full set of relevant documentation;
2. rent premises;
3. create the appearance of money movement in accounts;
4. they forge contracts, inflate their reputation, etc.

Identification of such complex and often extremely confusing schemes is the responsibility of the Department of Economic Crimes.

In fact, to begin such verification activities, no application is required, but most often the work of law enforcement officers begins after an official request from a bank representative.

The most striking example of recent years of fraud with legal entities is the theft at Sberbank of the Russian Federation (Meshchanskoe, Staromyskoe and Lublin branches). Losses as a result of illegal actions totaled more than 35 billion rubles. This amount was obtained as a result of issuing loans (2006-2007) using forged documents to legal entities and individuals. The specified employees of the enterprises in the loan agreements never worked in the specified structures. For successful lending, a whole package of fake documentation was prepared. After the loan was granted, the entire amount was transferred to the accounts of shell companies and then cashed out.

Individuals upon non-return of funds

Whether to submit an application in a case where the debtor does not return a certain amount of previously borrowed funds must be decided by everyone independently.

It all depends on what effect you want to achieve with your actions:

1. Bring to criminal liability the person who committed fraudulent acts. In this case, contacting the Department of Economic Crimes is a reasonable and correct decision. Based on the evidence provided by you and collected by law enforcement agencies, a decision will be made to initiate criminal proceedings or refuse to initiate them. If a refusal is issued, the basis for this is often the existence of civil legal relations that are subject to resolution in court (civilian tribunal). In this case, appealing the decision of law enforcement officers will not lead to any result, but will only delay the conflict resolution procedure.
2. Refund of money. In such a situation, it would be more appropriate to immediately resort to the help of a civilian tribunal, rather than turning to the Department of Economic Crimes. At the same time, you can send an application to a law enforcement agency for the purpose of conducting verification measures to determine whether there is fraud in the actions of the debtor. In this situation, this appeal may serve as a reason for a faster return of funds by the debtor in order to avoid criminal liability.

The best solution (whether to contact the Economic Crime Department or not) would be to consult a competent lawyer and explain to him all the circumstances of the case.

Officials

Officials in the Russian Federation often become subjects of a crime in the form of fraud. A textbook example of such a crime is the misappropriation of money by a person who promised to transfer it to a third party in the form of a bribe.

In this case, the application is submitted in the general manner, indicating the specific official who committed the crime.

Fraud has recently become a fairly common crime in the legal profession. A striking example of the dishonest activity of a lawyer is the verdict of the court of the N. region, where the relatives of the detained citizen E. and accused of committing a robbery with a weapon, as well as murder, decided to use the services of a lawyer who is quite “popular” and in demand in this region. The lawyer, who would later become accused under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, tried in every possible way to make the right impression: he named many names of officials, spoke familiarly about them, creating the impression of close relations with them.

Also, during a private conversation, the lawyer mentioned that everything can be resolved at certain prices established in the region. Relatives, wanting to save citizen E. and ease his fate, transferred the necessary amounts of money to the lawyer. The lawyer complained that he redirected the money to the necessary people, but they did not resolve the issue in the right direction, and repeatedly stated that the money was not enough. Despite the large sums received from relatives, E. was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Relatives contacted law enforcement agencies with a statement about the lawyer’s dishonesty. As a result of the checks, it was revealed that the lawyer did not transfer any money to anyone, and it ended up in his bank accounts. It is not worth mentioning that persons who transfer money for bribes are also subject to criminal liability.

Another case of fraudulent actions by a lawyer is accepting a fee for representation in court, but not taking any measures to fulfill his duties due to heavy workload, unwillingness to perform them, or for other reasons.

How is an application completed?

In order for the relevant structures to learn about the crime committed, the victim must report this fact. To do this, you need to write a statement about the fact of fraud to the police department. Usually there are samples to fill out at the stands of the institution; all citizens can use them. The victim also has the right to fill out an application independently, without using the example provided.

In this case, he needs to remember the rules for preparing and submitting a report of a crime committed (Article 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation):

• may be submitted in writing or orally;
• when submitted orally, the information is entered into the protocol by the police officer according to the citizen;
• the person is warned that he is liable for perjury.

Important! The applicant must personally sign the written application.

The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation does not impose any other requirements for reporting a crime. But there is another law that regulates the rules for filing appeals by citizens and the procedure for government agencies to act in the event of a request.

In accordance with Art. 7 of the Law of May 2, 2006 No. 59-FZ, the following requirements must be met:

1. indicate the name of the institution where the complaint is sent (police or EBiPK);
2. information about the person who submitted the application (full name, date of birth, address details, contact telephone number);
3. the name of the document, in this case it is written – “Statement of a crime”, or “Statement of fraud”;
4. then the essence of the appeal is described, the circumstances of what happened are described in detail (when, where, what amount, the characters involved, etc.);
5. the applicant expresses his request to bring the culprit to justice, if one is known;
6. it should be noted that the citizen has been warned about liability for knowingly false information;
7. list all available evidence for this application. These include: correspondence with the fraudster, audio and video recording of negotiations with the criminal, etc.;
8. Below is the date and personal signature of the applying citizen.

A sample complaint to the OBEP (OEBiPK) can be downloaded in this section. The completed example will help you tailor your application to your specific situation, allowing you to fill it out correctly.

Download a sample complaint to the Department of Economic Crimes

Practical recommendations for inspection

Actions during OBEP inspections must fully comply with the norms of current legislation.
As a rule, an OBEP inspection is difficult to predict, but you can prepare for it. What needs to be done so that the OBEP check does not come as a complete surprise to you? Get your papers in order. Do not store “unnecessary information”.

The organization should store only those documents that relate to its activities. If there are warehouses, then foreign goods are a potential source of trouble during inspection by employees of economic security departments.

Organizations with retail trade must closely monitor the cash register and the issuance of checks, etc. Information not related to the company’s activities should not be stored either on the organization’s servers or computers. A minimum of unnecessary things means a minimum of questions when conducting an OBEP inspection.

Enterprise employees should know their rights in the event of OBEP inspections. When conducting an OBEP check, employees of the organization must communicate with the police superficially. It is necessary that in case of inspections, a person is present in the company who has the opportunity to give the necessary explanations regarding the economic activities of the organization. The competence of the person present during the inspection is a strong argument in your favor. And remember the golden rule - no one is obliged to testify against themselves or their immediate relatives; this right is enshrined in Article 51 of the Constitution.

Ask the inspection staff to present documents. Record information about the reviewers. It is advisable to clarify by telephone the authority of the persons who came to conduct the inspection on behalf of the Department of Economic Crimes. The telephone numbers of local economic security units should be at hand.
Then, employees of the organization must immediately notify company management.
When conducting an inspection, behave as politely and correctly as possible. You should not confront the police when conducting an inspection. Quite often, OBEP employees behave rudely. Do not succumb to emotional provocation; as a rule, this is one of the ways to emotionally influence those being tested.

Provide all requested documentation, open safes, premises, etc. Make sure that all seized documentation, etc. were reflected in the protocol of the OBEP inspection. If you have information classified by law as a trade secret of an enterprise, OBEP employees can seize it only with the permission of the prosecutor. However, you should not fight for such documents. You can always appeal illegal actions during an inspection. Remember, OBEP operatives can carry out procedural actions only in the presence of witnesses.

How to file a complaint with the Department of Economic Crimes (OEBiPK)?

You can use any available method to submit an appeal:

• come in person and submit an application to an authorized employee;
• send by registered mail via mail with receipt of receipt attached;
• submit an application online via the Internet.

The latter method has become increasingly popular in recent years. Since deceived citizens can fill out the application form at home in a calm environment on the official website of the Economic Safety and Security Commission, which allows them to save personal time.

An anonymous complaint will not be accepted for consideration. Therefore, when filing an application for a financial crime, you need to provide information about the applicant and the address for sending a response based on the results of the audit.

Additional questions

What are the chances of getting your money back?

In practice, it is very difficult to return money lost due to the actions of scammers. It's connected with:

• Difficulties in finding scammers whose addresses and telephone numbers are registered to other people.
• Withdrawal of stolen money through bank accounts, electronic money, purchase of goods and payment for services.
• The interregional nature of the activities of fraudsters, which requires the involvement of employees of other police departments and investigative agencies in the investigation.

In addition, many fraud schemes rely on specialized knowledge that police officers do not possess. Experts must be brought in to investigate such crimes.

Where else can you apply?

In addition to filing a complaint with the Department of Economic Crimes, you can report fraud to the prosecutor's office. The decisions of the OEBiPK are also appealed there.

In addition, it makes sense to file a claim in civil court. The claim must demand the return of money stolen by fraud.

According to Article 44 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, you can appeal in court the decisions of the police and the prosecutor's office in a fraud case.

How to submit an application to the Department of Economic Crimes via the Internet

On the official websites of the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs there are online receptions through which you can submit an application electronically.

Complaint to OBEP anonymously

The main legal requirement for complaints and other requests from citizens is the need to sign their statements. Anonymous requests will not be considered.