Gazprom Armenia denies tax evasion accusations

Gazprom Armenia is denying the State Revenue Committee’s tax evasion accusations.

Gazprom Armenia issued a statement the same day a criminal investigation was announced against the company.

In the statement, Gazprom Armenia said that the SRC began complex inspections since October 1, 2018 on ‘accuracy of budget relations’. “Afterwards, on October 17, the inspection duration was extended for 30 consecutive business days. The complex tax inspection is factually ongoing at the moment and until now the SRC has not presented any instance of tax legislation violation to Gazprom Armenia. Instead, without discussing with the company and without notifying, the SRC distributed totally unsubstantiated information through the press,” Gazprom Armenia said in a statement.

Gazprom Armenia reminded that for many years it has been the largest taxpayer in Armenia and it has carried out its operations exclusively within the law, for which it has regularly been awarded certificates of appreciation.

The company said that the “comparative studies” mentioned in the SRC’s statement have been carried out based on incomparable time periods and incomparable volumes, and that the company has not received any evidence from the tax authority which led to ‘ridiculous conclusions’.

“This kind of a conduct by the SRC might jeopardize the reputation of the company and cause failure in its normal functioning,” Gazprom Armenia said.

Gazprom Armenia said it is organizing a press conference on the matter on November 15, and invited SRC officials to be present and substantiate their conclusions.