Vachagan Ghazaryan Transfers Approximately 3 Billion Dram to the State

Former head of Serzh Sargsyan's security detail, Vachagan Ghazaryan, has not been charged with tax evasion despite the revelation of such offenses at his restaurant complex, "Yans." A year ago, it was announced that over 1 billion dram in tax violations had been uncovered.

Factinfo sent a written inquiry to the Special Investigation Service (SIS) to clarify whether the initial findings regarding the tax violations were substantiated after nearly a year of investigation, what the actual damages amounted to, if any, and whether charges had been filed against anyone. The inquiry also asked if charges had been brought against Vachagan Ghazaryan and his wife in that case.

The official response from the SIS indicates that neither Vachagan Ghazaryan nor his wife has been charged with tax evasion.

“In response to your inquiry, we inform you that during the investigation of the mentioned criminal case, charges were brought against Vachagan Ghazaryan and his wife, Rouzanna Beklaryan, for the acts defined by part 2 of Article 314.3 and part 1 of Article 310.1 of the RA Criminal Code,” the response states.

The SIS also reported that “2 billion 850 million dram has been recovered during the investigation.”