Investigation ain’t no conviction, tax chief on Gazprom Armenia probe

During planned inspections at Gazprom Armenia, certain circumstances have been discovered that require a criminal-legal assessment, State Revenue Committee (SRC) President David Ananyan told reporters today, referring to the criminal investigation into the finances of Gazprom Armenia.

“In Gazprom Armenia, shall we say, planned inspections were carried out,” he said, adding that the SRC had published a list of taxpayers subject to inspections based on risk assessment for the July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019 period, and that the list includes Gazprom Armenia.

“During these inspections, the tax agents have discovered certain information that has been presented to the SRC investigative department and a report was made on carrying out further inspections. At this moment, the investigator has launched a criminal case based on this report, Ananyan said, stressing that filing a criminal case is not a conviction.

He said that investigators must take the kind of actions during the probe which they would’ve been unable to carry out during simple inspections.