Tax Committee Official Embezzles 5,000,000 AMD and 5,000 USD

The Armenian Special Investigation Service has established sufficient evidence during the pre-trial investigation of a criminal case pertaining to an official of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) who embezzled a substantial sum of 5,000,000 AMD and a large amount of 5,000 USD through deceit and misuse of trust.

According to the charges, in May 2018, S. H., the director of a limited liability company, allegedly offered a bribe to A. P., a inspector in the SRC's Violations Detection and Analysis Department, to gain favorable decisions regarding his company from the SRC investigator. A. P. deceitfully received an illegal payment of 5,000 USD from S. H. with the intention of embezzling the amount without fulfilling any actions in favor of S. H.

Furthermore, it was discovered that in August 2018, A. P. had fraudulently embezzled 5,000,000 AMD from F. D., the director of another company branch. A. G., the accountant of the company, approached A. P. at F. D.'s request, seeking a mediator to close a criminal case against their company in the SRC's investigative department. With the intent to embezzle, A. P. deceitfully told A. G. that his close associate would pursue closing the case in exchange for the substantial sum of 5,000,000 AMD, which he eventually embezzled, preventing F. D. from completing the criminal actions against the SRC official.

A. P. has been charged under parts 2 and 3 of Article 178 of the Armenian Criminal Code for embezzling large and particularly large sums of money. S. H. has been charged under part 3 of Article 312.2 for providing illegal remuneration to A. P. using his alleged influence. A. G. has also been charged under part 3 of Article 38-34-312 for aiding the attempted bribery of an SRC official through a mediator. The pre-trial investigation for these individuals has been completed, and the case has been sent to the supervising prosecutor with a petition to forward it to court.

Additionally, on January 29, 2019, F. D. was charged under part 1 of Article 34-312 for the attempted bribery of an SRC official. The pre-trial investigation regarding him is ongoing.