Police detained a criminal group that caused damage of millions of lei to the state budget through fraudulent schemes employed to avoid paying state taxes, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Friday, Vitalie Briceag, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s Frauds Division, said that one member of the group was caught in the act on July 7. Earlier, the police arrested another 11 individuals involved in illegal activities. According to the police, a number of companies illegally sold goods and laundered money through phantom companies. The companies made false bookkeeping records showing that the merchandise was delivered to certain ‘beneficiaries’ that paid for the goods by bank transfer. The given beneficiaries were then paid for their services with money obtained from illegal sales. Vitalie Briceag said that at the places of the suspects and companies involved, the police found over 1 million lei, bookkeeping records packed in 29 sacks, stamps of over 30 companies, about 450 electronic stamps of delinquent companies, offshore companies, ministries and state departments, including the Ministry of Finance and the Chisinau Tax Inspectorate. It was established that the given group sold goods and provided services of over 400 million lei during only two months – December 2010 – January 2011.The damage caused to the budget was estimated at over 64 million lei. The suspects face over ten years in jail for tax evasion and money laundering.