10 Individuals Charged with Evading Over 1.2 Billion Dram in Customs Duties

The Special Investigative Service of Armenia has completed an investigation into a criminal organization that allegedly evaded customs duties amounting to over 1.2 billion dram by using forged documents and manipulating vehicle identification elements.

According to the investigation, H.V., A.M., S.Sh., L.E., and B.K. established a criminal organization and recruited A.M., H.G., A.D., S.A., and H.S. as members to illegally import and sell vehicles from the Republic of Georgia while circumventing the legally stipulated customs procedures.

Members of the group reportedly submitted fraudulent applications to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ registration and examination divisions in Armenia based on counterfeit powers of attorney issued to citizens of Kazakhstan who had purchased vehicles in Armenia from 2018 to 2020. The applications claimed the loss of registration plates and documents and resulted in the issuance of new registration numbers and certificates.

Subsequently, the members of the criminal organization bought vehicles that matched the descriptions in the registration certificates in Georgia. They then removed the vehicle identification numbers in the neutral zone at the Georgian-Armenian and Georgian-Russian borders and replaced them with forged identification numbers and registration plates from their documents. This created a false impression that the vehicles, supposedly purchased and exported from Kazakhstan between 2018 and 2020, had entered the Republic of Armenia.

Based on the prosecutor's directive, public criminal proceedings have been initiated against ten individuals for creating and participating in a criminal organization, using forged documents, falsifying vehicle identification elements, and evading customs duties amounting to 1 billion 213 million 26 thousand 100 dram. Of these, two have been placed under house arrest, three under administrative supervision, and the others have been prohibited from leaving the country. Moreover, property from five defendants has been seized, and 218 vehicles have been classified as material evidence. The criminal case has been forwarded to the supervising prosecutor with an accusatory conclusion.

Note: An accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the established procedure of the Criminal Procedure Code through a court verdict that has entered into legal force.