A report has been sent from Prosecutor’s Office of Kotayk Region to the Investigative Department of Kotayk Region of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, based on the results of an audit conducted at the Hrazdan Municipality, according to which the head of the local government didn’t organize the legitimate acceptance of property tax payments, and the head of the relevant unit did not provide full input of property taxes to the community budget through his employees.
Based on materials prepared concerning the case, on November 1, 2018, a criminal case has been initiated on the grounds of Part 2 of Article 308, Part 2 of Article 315 and Part 2 of Article 315 and Point 1 of Part 3 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, the preliminary investigation of which has been carried out in the Investigative Department of Charentsavan of the RA IC.
By the evidence obtained within the framework of objective, complete and comprehensive investigation carried out under proper prosecutorial supervision, it has been justified that in the period of 2015-2018 in Hrazdan Municipality with the involvement of officials, a criminal corruption scheme has been operated by which part of the amounts collected for land tax and property tax has been appropriated.
In particular, it has been substantiated that the employees of the tax department of Hrazdan Municipality Staff in the period of 2015-2018 having received property taxes, have mentioned in one of the copies of the receipt the real amount of tax, and in the other have mentioned smaller amount.
Then the difference in the amount has been transferred to the leading specialist of the same division. The latter has transferred the indicated amount to the head of the division, who transferred part of the received amount back to the operator, and the latter has divided the amount between himself and the employee. As a result more than 138 million AMD have not been entered into the budget of Hrazdan Municipality.
It has been found out that for the indicated period, each working day, the tax division employees have given the property tax amounts collected on the previous day to the division head. The latter has personally or through the head of the division informed A. D . about the amount of the sum. The latter has given instructions to the head or deputy head of the division regarding how much to keep and how much to contribute to the community budget. As a result, the former mayor of Hrazdan has received more than 102 million AMD from taxes collected as a land tax and property tax, and has caused damage.
On the basis of the obtained sufficient evidences, A. D. has been charged on the grounds of Point 1 of Part 3 of Art. 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.
The charges have been brought against the former head and deputy head of tax division of the Municipality on the grounds of Point 1 of Part 3 of Art. 179 and Point 1 of Part 3 of Art. 38-179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and against 6 employees of the same division - under Point 1 of Part 3 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, or under Point 2 and 3 of Part 2 of the same article.
As a measure of restraint, a recognizance not to leave has been applied against all of them. The accused have pleaded themselves partially or totally guilty. During the preliminary investigation, the damage has been fully restored.
Prosecutor supervising the preliminary investigation of the criminal case on August 26, 2019 has approved the indictment against 9 people and sent it with the criminal case to the court of first instance of general jurisdiction of Kotayk Region.
Notice: Every person suspected in or charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent unless proved guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code and unless the verdict comes into legal force.
