Revelation of Large-Scale Bribery by Tax Officials

The National Security Service of Armenia, committed to upholding the rights and freedoms of citizens in accordance with the law and prioritizing the fight against corruption in all its forms, received a report of a crime from a citizen engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Following operational-investigative measures and investigative actions, it obtained factual data that three employees of the Small Taxpayers Tax Inspection Department of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia, acting officials endowed with authority as representatives of the state, identified four unregistered workers in an economic entity. Driven by self-serving interests, they failed to take any measures to record the violation against the interests of the public service, and instead, in pre-arranged agreement, demanded and received a large sum of 300,000 AMD in bribes from the entrepreneur in October 2019 to avoid penalties for each unregistered worker. Subsequently, they demanded a monthly bribe of 50,000 AMD for not taking appropriate actions concerning the four unregistered workers.

Within the scope of the agreements made, one of the aforementioned officials received another 50,000 AMD as a bribe from the entrepreneurs in November 2019, and in the latest case, on December 26, 2019, the demanded 100,000 AMD was received under the supervision of the operational units of the NSS of Armenia, after which the individual suspected of committing the crime was detained and arrested by NSS employees.

A criminal case has been initiated in the Investigative Department of the NSS of Armenia based on the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia regarding the apparent criminal act. Another one of the involved officials in the criminal agreement has also been arrested, and measures are being taken to determine the whereabouts of the third accomplice. An investigation is ongoing, and efforts are being made to uncover all criminal incidents involving these officials during their tenure, identify persons involved in the corruption chain, and hold them accountable.

Notice: A suspect in a purported crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court decision which has entered into legal force in accordance with the procedural law of the Republic of Armenia.