Head of economy ministry department arrested on charges of forgery and bribe receiving (video)
YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. Armenia's National Security Service (NSS) said it has arrested the head of an economy ministry department in charge of awarding licenses and permissions for committing illegal actions.
The National Security Service said the investigation revealed that a company had imported processed diamonds from the United Arab Emirates weighing 1776.84 metric carats at an invoice value of $148.535. The customs value of the diamonds was estimated at 72 million drams.
However, after an examination conducted by experts it turned out that the market value of these diamonds is more than 420 million drams. As a result especially large amount of customs duty was not paid.
During the preliminary investigation initiated by the State Revenue Committee, which was then referred to NSS, it turned out that the head of the department was bribed by the company for concealing the real value of imported diamonds.
The head of the department asked a legal adviser to the Minister of Economy to draw up and provide the company's representatives with a forged document claiming that the value of the imported diamonds complied with the company's declaration.
Under the pressure of irrefutable evidence and facts obtained in the criminal case, the adviser to the Minister of Economy admitted to foregoing documents
On the same day, the owners of the company as well as a suspect in the alleged crime and about a dozen persons suspected of possible connections with it, were taken to the NSS on suspicion of bribing and adding deliberately false information to official documents.
The NSS said other legal actions are being taken to determine the real amount of damage caused to the government and to clarify the entire circle of persons involved in the corruption mechanism.
A person suspected or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent until proven guilty in by a court verdict in accordance with the procedure established by Armenia's Criminal Procedure Code that has entered into legal force. ($1 - 518.16 drams). -0-