Owner of Maxima suspected of large-scale tax evasion

Nerijus Numavičius, large owner of Maxima Group and one of the richest businessmen in the Baltics, is being accused of tax evasion by his business partner, writes Äripäev.

According to small shareholder Mindaugas Marcinkevičius, various tax schemes employed by Maxima amount to over 200 million euros in tax evasion, of which 71 million euros is directly related to Estonia.

Marcinkevičius claims that Franmax Ltd, an investment and holding company which Maxima founded in Estonia in 2011 plays an important part in the tax evasion schemes.

He says that Franmax Ltd is former owner of Franmax UAB, a Lithuanian company known formerly as Maxima Grupe UAB. The company offers franchising services to Maxima’s retail chains in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria.

This spring, Franmax Ltd was sold to a Luxembourg company Carson l.a r.s. for 43 million euros which, according to Marcinkevičius is nine times lower than its actual value.

Marcinkevičius suspects that it may have been part in massive tax evasion because he estimates that Franmax UAB was worth about 400 million euros.

He says that by artificially lowering the company’s value, its owners could have saved about 200 million euros in taxes, including 71 million euros in Estonia alone.

Franmax UAB made a profit of 43 million euros last year and is considered one of the most profitable parts of Vilniaus Prekyba, the holding company that owns Maxima.

Numavičius has denied all accusations of his business partner, saying that Lithuanian company Franmax UAB is paying all the necessary taxes.

He says that in 2011-2014, Franmax UAB paid almost 27 million euros in taxes.

Estonian tax authority said that it cannot comment the case.