David Ananyan: Norfolk will not have a successor - economic entities  will themselves handle customs clearance of goods

ArmInfo. Scandalously known Norfolk Consulting company, which previously dealt with cargo transportation and customs clearance of documents and was associated  with the name of former Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan,  will cease its operation from tomorrow, Chairman of the State Revenue  Committee (SRC) of Armenia David Ananyan told journalists on August  23.

According to him, there will be no new company to replace Norfolk  Consulting. "Norfolk will not have a successor, people will carry out  customs clearance of their cargoes themselves," Ananyan said.

Earlier, on July 26, David Anan«an stated that doubts whether a new  similar structure should be established or no are caused by the  desire of the tax authorities to comply with the requirements of the  current legislation. "It is necessary to find a happy medium, which,  to some extent, may have contradictions with the law," he said,  stressing that the state should decide whether it takes certain  obligations to ease the concerns of business. "In my opinion: There  should not be a successor to Norfolk." The price of the matter is a  business operating in the field of the turnover tax, mostly an  individual entrepreneur, who is facing a foggy future, "he said. At  the same time, according to David Ananyan, business will have to  learn all customs clearance operations. Taking into account the fact  that not all economic entities may have relevant knowledge and skills  in the field of customs, they will be given a certain time. Taking  into account this fact, as Ananyan noted, the checks in Norfolk  company were suspended so that it could temporarily advise the  business. Regarding the restoration of the damage caused by the  company to the state, according to David Ananyan, at that time the  company paid about $ 2 million out of a total of $ 7 million. The  rest $ 5 million the company had to repay until July 20, but with the  extension of the inspection period , deadline was revised, and the  new deadline is not known.

To note by establishing Norfolk Consulting, an attempt was made to  distinguish these actions in order to facilitate customs procedures  at the border for business entities. Nevertheless, on May 25, the  National Security Service of Armenia stated that, as part of its  activities aimed at combating corruption and economic crimes, it  disclosed a criminal scheme. According to the RA National Security  Service, the large Norfolk Consulting companyoperating in Armenia - a  customs declarer performing customs services, maliciously evaded  paying taxes, duties and other obligatory payments on an especially  large scale. The company did not pay about $ 7 million to the state  budget. On this fact, the Investigative Department of the National  Security Service instituted criminal proceedings under Part 2 of  Article 205 ("Evasion from payment of taxes, duties or other  mandatory payments") and Part 2 of Article 308 ("Abuse of official  authority, entailing by imprudence grave consequences ") of the RA  Criminal Code. Until recently there have been about 7-8 organizations  in the republic that dealt not only with cargo transportation, but  also with the customs documents.