ArmInfo. The officers of the Armenian State Revenue Committee accompanied by Special Forces, conducted searches in the office of "South Caucasus Railway" CJSC. The information was confirmed by a source at State Revenue Committee, who wished to be anonymous. According to the source, in the course of the searches the documents were confiscated, personal belongings of employees were inspected and a criminal case was brought against "South Caucasus Railway" CJSC over non-payment of VAT in the amount of AMD 9.7 million.
The Armenian State Revenue Committee has not officially commented on the fact yet. Meanwhile, according to the information provided to ArmInfo by SCR, during the recent 10 years of its activity in Armenia, the company has always operated openly and transparently in strict compliance with national legislation of Armenia. The company undergoes all the inspections of supervisory bodies regularly and intends to constructively render all necessary assistance to the law enforcement agencies. The SCR said that since February 13, 2008 the company has successfully managed the assets and railway infrastructure of Armenia to modernize and develop intra-republican and international passenger and cargo traffic in compliance with the concession agreement. The investments amounted to AMD 110 billion (about USD 227.7 million) for the period of the concession agreement. According to SCR, more than twofold increase in the volume of tax payments by SCR is very important as a result of the implementation of the concession agreement. "If in 2007 the Armenian Railway paid 1.6 billion drams of taxes (USD 3.3 mln), the SCR's tax payments in 2009 amounted to AMD 2.9 billion (over USD 6 million), and to AMD 3, 9 billion (over USD 8 mln) in 2017 respectively," the company said.rIt is noteworthy that after this incident, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with General Director of the "South Caucasus Railway" CJSC Sergey Valko on August 15. According to the press service of the Armenian Government, the sides discussed the SCR activities in Armenia and the implementation of upcoming programs. The interlocutors also touched upon issues on the development of transport infrastructure, modernization, passenger and freight volumes, provision of access to services and increasing efficiency.