The State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia has revealed a major tax evasion scam in Gazprom Armenia – a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom – as part of its ongoing anti-fraud and anti-shadow operations.

The inspections have found that Gazprom Armenia presented fake figures in the value-added tax (VAT) and income tax reports to tax authorities in 2016 and 2017, due to which the company’s tax duties were reported several billion drams lower.

The comparative analysis on the volumes of supplied natural gas to self-service gas stations also testify to the fraud allegations, the SRC said in a statement.

According to the committee, Gazprom Armenia’s volume of loss in the distribution network reduced by an average of over 3 times from June to July 2018 compared to January-May of the same year. Meantime, the research data shows that the company’s gas supply volumes to the filling stations rose sharply by 37% in June-September from the first five months of 2018.

A criminal case has been launched under Article 205 (Part 2) of Armenia’s Criminal Code – evasion from taxes, duties or other mandatory payments.

Investigative and procedural operations are being carried out to clarify the damages caused to the state and reveal corruption cases in natural gas consumption.