Owner and director of Ar.Tobacco company arrested in Armenia for tax evasion

YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. A court in Yerevan allowed Armenian law-enforcement authorities to arrest the owner and the director of Ar.Tobacco company on charges of tax evasion and attempted export of undeclared large batches of cigarettes.

According to the State Revenue Committee (SRC), its employees discovered on April, 2022, some 25 boxes of undeclared Armada and Gamma cigarettes in a cargo truck at Gogavan-Privolnoye checkpoint on the border with Georgia. The Ar. Tobaco cjsc was indicated on the packs as the manufacturers of cigarettes.

Besides, another 980 boxes (490,000 packs) of Classic, Panorama, Black, Armada and Tigranakert cigarettes without excise stamps were discovered by SRC officers when they insopected on April 22, 2023, the cargo plane Il 76 and seven trucks standing nearby at Erebuni airport in Yerevan. The Ar.Tobaco was vindicated as the manufacturer of cigarettes.

According to the Investigative Committee, Ar.Tobacco CJSC inflicted about 189 million drams of damage to the state.

Besides, on March 5 and 11, 2023 two citizens had declared exports of 19,405 kg and 20,240 kg of fresh apples respectively, and on June 7, 2023 another citizen declared 1,500 boxes of fresh cherries weighing 16,684 kg, to be sent to Russia.

Trucks at the Upper Lars border crossing point were stopped for inspection by Russian customs authorities, who found Armada, Gamma, Panorama cigarettes without excise stamps manufactured by Ar.Tobacco. The ciggarettes were hidden under the apples and cherries in the crates.

Taking into account the fact that settlement documents had not been drawn up for these consignments and appropriate delivery was not arranged, the state suffered 205.3 million drams damage due to the improper VAT and excise tax assessment. -0-