SANCTIONS FOR ECONOMIC CRIMES TO BE TOUGHENED IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-04-09 15:06:00

ArmInfo. Parliament of Armenia has made alterations and amendments
to the Criminal Code of Armenia in the first reading Thursday.

Solicitor General of Armenia Mnatsakan Sargsyan told parliamentarians
that the amendments to the Criminal Code are a call of time. Analysis
of the sphere showed that economic crimes charged by the articles
188-211 of the Criminal Code of Armenia grew from 193 cases in 2004
to 456 cases in 2008.

The most popular crimes were illegal business, false tax evasion, and
production of counterfeit drinks as well as use of false excise marks.

Similar dynamics of growth was registered also on other crimes. As a
result, the total damage to the state made up nearly 2 billion drams
including 680 million drams have been recompensed. Basing on the given
analysis, the bill proposes tougher sanctions. Earlier the punishment
for some of the above crimes was just compensation of the state damage
without further criminal proceedings. Now the bill proposes a certain
‘privilege’ only for the heads of small and medium-sized enterprises
that will get a right to continue their business after compensating the
state damage. As regards big companies committing economic crimes for
over 15 million drams, they will be brought to criminal responsibility.