Customs Officials Arrested

The investigation initiated by the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, in collaboration with the National Security Service, has established that officials from the RA State Revenue Committee received approximately 5 million AMD in bribes and property advantages from a taxpayer with prior agreement, and subsequently legalized the property obtained through criminal means.

Specifically, the investigation revealed that H. M., the Deputy Head of the Comprehensive Tax Inspections Department at the State Revenue Committee, learned at the beginning of 2022 that a company engaged in the construction of apartment buildings could face unfulfilled tax liabilities amounting to approximately 126,000,000 AMD. Together with A. A., the Chief Tax Inspector of the same department, he agreed to receive a bribe from representatives of the mentioned company in exchange for favoring the reduction of the company's tax obligations.

The officials initially planned to acquire the rights to purchase two apartments at a significantly discounted price from the apartment building being constructed by the company, with the intention of either selling or renting them out later. The rest of the bribe was decided to be received in cash.

A. A., who had close ties with N. M., one of the co-owners of the company, proposed during a meeting to provide a bribe equivalent to 5,000 USD for reducing the tax obligations, as well as the rights to two apartments at a discounted price, as per the demands of both him and H. M.

Accepting the offer, N. M. sold the two apartments at significantly lower prices in a building under construction on H. Manandyan Street in Yerevan, providing a bribe amounting to 2,297,997 AMD as a property advantage for the price difference. Following the agreement, the co-owner of the company transferred the remaining portion of the bribe, equivalent to 5,000 USD, to A. A., which was handed over to H. M. on March 21, 2022.

Subsequently, H. M. and A. A. agreed to hide the actual origin of the apartments purchased at a discounted price, legalizing the criminally obtained property by registering the rights to the apartments in the names of two acquaintances of A. A. and H. M. As a result, the two apartments were recorded in the names of these individuals by notarized contracts dated April 12, 2022.

Indictments have been filed against six individuals for the commission of the aforementioned criminal acts, including two officials from the State Revenue Committee and two co-owners of the company. H. M. and A. A. have been charged under Article 296, Part 2, Clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code (Money laundering by a group of individuals by prior agreement), and Article 435, Parts 2 and 1 of the same code (Receiving a large bribe by a group of individuals by prior agreement). Additionally, two other individuals have been charged under Article 296, Part 2, Clause 1 of the Criminal Code. For these four defendants, detention has been used as a preventive measure. The investigation against them has been completed, and the materials of the criminal case have been submitted to the supervising prosecutor with a request for approval and to be forwarded to the court.