Filling stations pay AMD 1.6bln to state budget in fraud case 

ArmInfo. The Main Department for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Smuggling of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia continues the investigation of the criminal case initiated against the owners of a number of gas  stations V.K. and N.G., as well as a group of individuals for  non-payment of taxes on an especially large scale.

In March, the Investigative Committee reported that the owner of 18 gas stations V.K. is suspected of non- payment of taxes totaling  almost 1.3 billion drams. It was noted that V.K. (Vilik Karapetyan, son of former MP Karo Karapetyan - ed.) established a chain of illegal gas trafficking. Firstly, he specially equipped the tanker trucks for transportation so that part of the gas was not recorded. Secondly, on his orders, the software of the gas station meters was tampered with, causing them to show lower figures. And the owner of another chain of gas stations, N. G. (former Republican Party MP Nahapet Gevorgyan - ed.), is suspected of tax evasion of almost the  same amount: 1 billion 79 million drams. However, at the end of April, the head of the Investigative Committee, Artur Poghosyan, told journalists that the defendants in the case of tax evasion at a number of gas stations had left Armenia before the criminal case was initiated.  According to him, they could not have been detained when leaving the country, since there were no grounds for this at that time. Now they are wanted.

Now the press service of the investigative body reports that a  criminal case has been initiated against 14 persons under Articles 290, Part 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (failure to pay taxes, fees or other payments in an especially large amount by prior agreement by a group of persons) and against 5 persons under Articles 46-290, Part 3, Clauses 1 and 2 (assistance in failure to pay taxes, fees or other payments in an especially large amount by prior agreement by a group of persons).

A written undertaking not to leave was chosen as a preventive measure against 6 persons, and a written undertaking not to leave and bail were chosen as a preventive measure against 3 persons. A preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen as a preventive measure against 10 persons, and a search warrant was issued. During the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, a total of 1 billion 600 thousand drams were returned to the state budget. The investigation is ongoing.