ArmInfo.The report of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia published on January 21 may be misinterpreted and may cause some concerns from customers, partners and the general public, in connection with which the insurance company Nairi Insurance officially announces the continuation of its activities in normal mode.
In the statement, received by ArmInfo, the insurance company Nairi Insurance states that the company has always been a bona fide taxpayer and has never, in any way, avoided paying taxes. According to the company's management, on income tax, Nairi Insurance paid almost a third of the total aggregate income tax of all 6 insurance companies operating in the country.
To recall, according to the information provided by the Armenian State Statistics Committee on February 21, the company, according to preliminary calculations, caused damage to the state in the amount of 200 million drams (about $ 415,000). In the framework of the cooperation of the Investigation Department of the SRC and the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC) of the RA Police, the management of Nairi Insurance prepared insurance policies with beneficiaries on behalf of various insurance intermediaries, writing out commission fees for this. Individual entrepreneurs who acted as insurance intermediaries turned out to be former employees of IC Nairi Insurance, as well as other persons interconnected with the company. The latter did not actually carry out insurance activities, but in their names, as a commission for intermediary services for the conclusion of insurance contracts, Nairi Insurance listed large sums of money. In fact, a criminal case has been initiated in the police department of the Republic of Armenia on grounds of part 2, art.205 (evasion of taxes, duties and other obligatory payments) of the Criminal Code of Armenia.
The next day, "Nairi Insurance", in response to the accusations of the State Revenue Committee, officially stated that the SRC employees did not visit the insurance company to conduct inspections, and it is unclear what abuses and estimates are involved in the SRC report and on what facts it is based. The statement notes that Nairi Insurance LLC will take the necessary steps within the framework of the law to protect its rights and legitimate interests in order to rule out any attempt to discredit the business reputation and authority of the company and to bring to justice the perpetrators of such cases to the fullest extent of the law.
To note, "Nairi Insurance" company has been operating in the insurance market of Armenia since December 1996. The company renewed its license for non-life insurance in March 2008. In the list of the largest taxpayers in the country for January - September 2018, the company ranked 488, and among insurance companies - the third place. In total, for the first 9 months, the company paid 205 million drams to the budget, and 175.7 million drams for direct taxes (profit and income taxes).
To recall, according to the official website of the company, Levon Kocharyan is the holder of 60% of the company's share. It is known that he is the son of the second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. 40% of the share belongs to another individual Vahagn Khachartyan.