Ministry of Finance to Pay License Fee for Shangri-La Casino

The funds of Armenian taxpayers will be directed to the license fee of the "Shangri-La" casino. Specifically, the government has decided to pay 4.2 billion drams to the budget for the "Shangri-La" license fee instead, according to Civilnet.

The "Shangri-La" casino was operated by the "Onira Club" company, owned by Gagik Tsarukyan. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, restrictions were imposed on the casino, and later the Ministry of Finance declared the casino's license invalid.

After pursuing domestic legal channels, "Onira Club" managed to have the Minister of Finance's decision to revoke the casino's license declared invalid, and now the state fee will be paid by the Ministry of Finance itself, which had previously invalidated the license, on the grounds of non-payment of the fee.

The company argued that it could not pay the fee because its operations were halted due to the relevant decision of the Prime Minister during the coronavirus pandemic. The issue was included in the agenda of the government meeting on July 7.

In February 2021, the administrative court accepted the company’s lawsuit and declared the Minister of Finance's decision to revoke the casino's license invalid. Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance appealed this decision, but was unsuccessful. The Supreme Court also ruled against the Ministry, and the administrative court's decision came into effect.

For more details, refer to the original source.