The Investigative Committee Has No Damage Recovery Plan

The Investigative Committee of Armenia has no plan for the recovery of damages incurred by the state. This statement was made by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Arthur Poghosyan, in response to MP Tsovinar Vardanyan from the ‘Civil Contract’ fraction during the joint session of the RA National Assembly's Permanent Commissions on State-Legal and Financial-Budgetary Issues concerning the discussion of the 2026 state budget.

“The cases initiated against economic operators mainly relate to violations exceeding 10 million drams. Entrepreneurs indicate that the amounts are often intentionally inflated so that their cases are transferred to the Investigative Committee by the State Revenue Committee (SRC), leading to the initiation of criminal proceedings, after which their property is also seized,” Vardanyan noted.

In response, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee assured that when they receive proper reports from the SRC regarding any economic operator maliciously avoiding tax obligations, they are based on certain factual data, including preliminary calculations presented by the SRC, which form the basis for initiating criminal proceedings. “Only after that do we begin conducting investigative actions, which also include the seizure of property. Following this, our audits take place, after which we decide on the issue of initiating criminal prosecution against the individual. There are many instances where we have not initiated proceedings based on preliminary calculations. A damage recovery plan, as such, does not exist in the Investigative Committee; these are merely ongoing cases,” Poghosyan stated.

According to the Investigative Committee Chairman, there is nothing extraordinary in their actions; the committee organizes its steps in such a way as to minimize interference with the activities of the economic operators.