According to investigators, residents of the village of Karluk in the Irkutsk region and the association of real estate owners "Molodezhnoye", located on the Baikal tract, were engaged in illegal mining of cryptocurrencies. During the searches, 500 devices designed for mining were found, which were connected to electric networks supplying residents of the Irkutsk region.
Miners paid for the consumed electricity at preferential tariffs for household consumers, not for industry. During the investigation of the criminal case, all mining equipment was seized.
"The third department for the investigation of particularly important cases has opened criminal cases on the fact of illegal consumption of electricity on the grounds of crimes provided for in Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed on an especially large scale)," the press service of the IC for the Irkutsk region reports.
The suspects face up to ten years in prison with a fine of up to one million rubles or in the amount of income for a period of up to three years. The Department added that at the same time they initiated several criminal cases against the staff of the electric grid organization, which created special conditions for commercial structures and individuals engaged in mining cryptocurrencies in the region.
Earlier, the arbitration court of Khakassia ruled that the miner, who paid for energy at tariffs for the population, would have to pay an additional 28 million rubles for electricity.