Russian authorities launch probe into tax fraud involving Scottish Limited Partnership

Prosecutors in a port near the Estonian border say they are looking into an attempt to avoid more than $200,000 in duty on a tanker carrying fuel oil.

Port officials in Ust-Luga this month inspected a ship, the Freya, which said it had a cargo of 1,500 tonnes of mineral tar bound for Estonia.

But authorities found that only 10 per cent of the cargo was tar and the remainder was fuel oil, which is subject to significant export taxes.

According to local news, the cargo was destined for an SLP registered in Glasgow, called Sungaty, whose person of significant control is a Russian national named Ivan Krylov.

The UK government department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) reported this year that, according to the National Crime Agency, SLPs played a part in a disproportionately high number of suspected criminal activities.

They also said that five individuals were responsible for registering over 50 per cent of all SLPs registered between January 2016 and May 2017. BEIS therefore launched a further call for evidence on proposed reform to limited partnerships which closed on 23 July 2018.