Armenian parliament expands list of persons whose property can be checked for legality of acquisition

YEREVAN, May 19. /ARKA/. By a vote of 59 the Armenian parliament has approved today in the first reading a set of amendments and additions to the law on confiscation of property of illegal origin. Lawmakers from the opposition alliances Hayastan and Pativ Unem did not participate in the voting.

Deputy Prosecutor General Srbuhi Galyan said that the revision of the law is prompted by the need to review the grounds for initiating proceedings for the confiscation of property of illegal origin.

The amendments expand the circle of people in respect of whom an investigation can be launched to find out the legality of acquired property.

They also establish that investigation may last for 3 years and give the Prosecutor's Office the right to initiate such investigations on its own initiative. The amendments also provide for possibility of confiscation of an amount equal to the value of property purchased abroad in case there is no information on its market value.

The amendments provide for an expansion of the definition of "official": it will be extended to officials who are required to submit asset declarations.

The law on seizure of illegally acquired property was approved by the parliament of Armenia in April 2020. It allows authorities to confiscate private properties and other assets deemed to have been acquired illegally. 

More precisely, the law allows prosecutors to investigate individuals in case of having “sufficient grounds to suspect” that the market value of their assets exceeds their “legal incomes” by at least 50 million drams (about $100,000)

If such discrepancies are found prosecutors can ask courts to nationalize those assets even if their owners are not found guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses.

The Deputy Prosecutor General drew attention to the fact that at the moment investigations into about 300 such cases, involving also opposition MPs are underway.--0--