Armenian State Revenue Committee conducts searches at "South Caucasus  Railway" CJSC

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.