ArmInfo. Armenia's Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan instructed to submit data on criminal cases during September 2020, in which there are grounds for filing a claim for confiscation of property of illegal origin.

As ArmInfo was told in the press service of the Prosecutor General's  Office of Armenia, at the second stage, the Prosecutor's Office must  provide information on criminal cases, containing the above data,  which were considered during 2010-2019, by mid-October.

It was also instructed, from the moment when the unit, endowed with  the functions of confiscation of property of illegal origin, is  considered formed, within ten days to transfer to it the data of  investigated criminal cases, in which the grounds for starting an  investigation of cases of confiscation of property of illegal origin  will be revealed.

To note, the country's parliament at a plenary session on April 16 in  the second and final reading adopted the draft law "On the  confiscation of property of illegal origin." The application of the  law on confiscation of illegally acquired property in favor of the  state in Armenia will be carried out in stages.  As RA Justice  Minister Rustam Badasyan said, the law provides for the confiscation  of illegal property if its value exceeds AMD 50 million. The document  allows for the confiscation of property, the acquisition of which is  not justified by legal sources of income in the volumes provided for  by the project. In relation to such property, there is a presumption  of illegal origin, which can be refuted by the defendant upon  presentation of evidence justifying the acquisition of the property.  We are talking about the unaccounted property of only politicians and  entrepreneurs.

According to the Minister, the burden of proving the illegality of  the property lies with the state. That is, it is not an official who  must prove his innocence, but the state must prove his guilt.  Inspection can be carried out on property acquired a maximum of 10  years prior to inspection. In exceptional cases, where there is  strong evidence, the investigation may cover the period from 1991. A  new competent body will operate within the General Prosecutor's  Office, which will allow the study of assets and the confiscation of  unreasonably acquired property in favor of the state.

The President of Armenia signed the above document on May 11 this  year.