Owner and Director of 'Ar Tobacco' Arrested for Evasion of 393 Million Dram in Taxes

The Investigation Committee of Armenia has revealed cases of significant tax evasion related to the export of unreported large consignments of tobacco. This was reported by the Investigation Committee of Armenia.

According to operational and investigative measures conducted by the employees of the State Revenue Committee's Department for Economic Crimes and Smuggling, on April 4, 2022, during a customs inspection at the Gogavan-Privolnoye customs checkpoint, 25 boxes of "ARMADA" and 25 boxes of "GAMMA" unreported cigarettes were discovered in a "DAF" brand truck. The producer was listed as "Ar Tobacco" LLC on the packages.

Furthermore, on April 22, 2023, inspections were conducted at the territory of the Erebuni Airport, involving an Il-76 cargo aircraft and seven trucks parked nearby. As a result, 980 boxes (49,000 blocks or 490,000 packs) of untaxed cigarettes without excise duty stamps under the brands "Classic," "Panorama," "Bleck," "Armada," and "Tigranakert" were discovered, which were also produced by "Ar Tobacco" LLC. Consequently, the state incurred a loss of 188,397,650 AMD due to the activities of "Ar Tobacco" LLC.

In addition, as part of operational and investigative measures, it was found that on March 5 and March 11, 2023, two individuals declared 19,405 kg and 20,240 kg of fresh apples respectively at the customs servicing center in Yerevan, while on June 7, 2023, another person exported 1,500 boxes (16,684 kg) of fresh cherries from Armenia to the Russian Federation under various recipient companies' names. The corresponding vehicles were stopped and inspected by Russian customs officers at the Upper Lars checkpoint, revealing that underneath the apples and cherries, there were cigarettes produced by "Ar Tobacco" LLC under the brands "Armada," "Gamma," and "Panorama" with a total quantity of 53,399 blocks or 533,990 packs without excise duty stamps. Since no accounting documents were issued for these batches and no proper supply was documented, the state incurred an overall damage of 205,311,145 AMD due to the underreporting of VAT and excise tax by "Ar Tobacco" LLC.

According to the data available in the information databases of the State Revenue Committee, "Ar Tobacco" LLC has never supplied any tobacco within the territory of Armenia with accounting documents.

Based on the above incidents, multiple criminal proceedings initiated under point 2 of part 3 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of Armenia have been consolidated into one case, which is currently being investigated by the Investigation Committee's Department for Economic Crimes and Smuggling. Considering the scale of the investigation and the need to ensure an impartial and comprehensive inquiry, an investigative team has been formed.

On June 23, 2023, a search was conducted at the business location of "Ar Tobacco" LLC, revealing that the company registered in Armenia is engaged in tobacco production. On the same day, based on the evidence obtained during the investigation, the prosecuting authority submitted a petition for public criminal prosecution against them under points 1 and 2 of part 3 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, which was granted.

The company’s owner and director were arrested to face court proceedings. The Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, satisfying the requests of the prosecuting authority, decided on June 24, 2023, to select detention as a measure of constraint for them for a period of 2 months. The investigation continues.

Notice: The suspect or accused in an alleged crime is considered innocent until proven guilty by a court verdict that has entered into legal force according to the procedures established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia.