Armenia accuses Gazprom subsidiary of tax evasion, criminal case opened

YEREVAN – The Armenian State Revenue Committee announced on Nov. 14 it has discovered major financial irregularities in the operations of Gazprom Armenia, a subsidiary of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom.

Inspections carried out at the company revealed that it submitted inaccurate income tax and VAT returns in 2016 and 2017, “paying several billion drams less than its tax obligations to the national budget [amounted to],” it said.

The State Revenue Committee opened a criminal case on charges of evasion of taxes, duties, or other mandatory payments.

Special procedures have been launched to determine the amount of damage caused to the state and look for signs of corruption in the consumption of natural gas, it said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier that he could not rule out that corruption risks might be involved in the scheme by which Russian gas is supplied to Armenian consumers. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin and he had agreed to study the pricing system for natural gas shipped to Armenia.