MOSCOW, March 19 - RAPSI. Illegal cash out transactions should be qualified as serious offenses and imply tough punishment, a high-ranking Interior Ministry official told RIA Novosti on Monday.

"Unfortunately, the legal evaluation of cash out transactions is inadequate," the source said. "The operations are actually the laundering of funds illegally derived through tax evasion. In other words, companies providing cash out services - so-called clandestine banks - help customers evade taxes."

He also noted that Western countries secure tougher punishments for such acts than Russia. For example, in the United States, cash out transactions are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and large fines, while some European countries punish such offenses by up to 10 years in jail.

It was reported on Thursday that the Interior Ministry caught a criminal gang suspected of illegally transferring over 100 billion rubles ($3.4 billion) to bank accounts abroad.

The police searched several organizations while investigating the case, including Fundservicebank, where the companies involved in the transfers have accounts.

Investigators suspect the bank of breaking the law while serving the accounts of public organizations.