MOSCOW, July 4 - RAPSI. Outstanding tax liabilities in Moscow totaled almost $45 million in June, Irina Volk, spokesperson of the economic security and anticorruption department of Interior Ministry told journalists on Wednesday.

"In June this year, 12 criminal cases have been initiated on charges of large-scale tax evasion or collusion in tax evasion. The aggregate amount of tax arrears involved in these cases is 1.46 billion rubles ($45 million)," she said.

Over the last six months alone, department officers have uncovered 88 tax crimes and have returned over 600 million rubles ($18.5 million) to the state budget.

Tax audits are being carried out in 300 organizations, she added.