Tax Inspector Charged with Receiving Bribes

The Anti-Corruption Committee has revealed a case of bribery involving a senior tax inspector of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case.

Specifically, it has been established through sufficient evidence obtained in the case that during an inspection visit to a relevant LLC, Senior Tax Inspector Tigran Karapetyan, of the SRC's Territorial Division, noticed an individual who was actually working there among the registered employees. However, the tax inspector did not include this individual's data in the list of persons actually working at the time of the inspection and took no measures to ascertain the employment status of the said employee within the company.

As a result, T. Karapetyan received a bribe of 160,000 Armenian Drams from the company owner, with the assistance of the owner's son. Subsequently, the inspector informed him that another inspection visit would be conducted in the coming days at the same company, thus revealing the tax authority's intention to carry out a follow-up visit and allowing the entrepreneur the opportunity to hide any violations related to unregistered employees from the tax authority.

Tigran Karapetyan has been charged under the first part of Article 311 of the Criminal Code of Armenia for receiving a bribe. The preliminary investigation of the criminal case against him has been completed. The case has been submitted to the supervising prosecutor with an indictment conclusion for approval and subsequent referral to the court.