Maxima Legal lawyers have commented for DP on the formation of a shadow market in Telegram for the purchase and sale of currency
In accordance with a regulation of The Central Bank of the Russian Federation, there is a ban on the sale of foreign currency in cash to citizens by bank branches in Russia from 9 March to 9 September 2022. In addition, $10,000 is limited to the amount of money that can be withdrawn from a foreign currency account. Against this backdrop, chat rooms and channels offering to exchange dollars and euros for roubles “out of hand” or to withdraw cash to other countries began to appear in the Telegram messenger. The exchange rate in the ads is substantially higher than the official one, and the sums are quite large ($10-40 thousand).
Sergey Tarasevich, Associate of Tax & Administrative Law Practice at Maxima Legal, explained to Delovoy Peterburg newspaper that purchase of foreign currency in a telegram channel may be regarded as an illegal currency exchange transaction. The parties involved risk to be held administratively liable and be fined 75 to 100% of the amount of transaction.
At the same time, according to the associate, the actions of the owners of the telegram channels cannot be classified as fraud because there is no direct “theft of another’s property or acquisition of a right to another’s property by deception or breach of trust. However, if we talk about criminal offenses, the organization of the shadow exchange can be qualified as illegal banking, while sale of currency “from hand to hand” is an illegal business,” explained Sergey Tarasevich. He also recalled that under Russian law, purchase and sale of foreign currency is performed only through authorized banks and VEB.RF State Corporation.
On the other hand, as Sergei Bakeshin, Senior Associate at Maxima Legal, pointed out, a shadow market of cash currency exchange should not emerge at all. “It is illegal to “ban” sales of cash currency by authorized banks to citizens. Currency operations between residents and authorized banks related to the purchase and sale of cash and non-cash foreign currency and cheques (including traveler’s cheques) with nominal value specified in foreign currency by individuals for rubles and foreign currency are carried out without limitation in accordance with “On currency regulation and currency control” Federal Law. In the meantime, The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the currency regulation authority) has not adopted, or at least has not published, a regulatory legal act approving the “temporary procedure for cash currency operations,” the expert stressed.
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