RA State Revenue Committee exposes violations in purchase and sale of  foreign currency

ArmInfo. Employees of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia have uncovered a number of violations committed by a group of individuals engaged in the  purchase and sale of foreign currency.

According to the SRC press service, three limited liability  companies, although not licensed by the Central Bank to purchase and  sell foreign currency, nevertheless carried out such transactions. As  a result of investigative measures, based on the factual information  obtained regarding the three companies, reports were drawn up for  violation of Article 407 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia.  These reports were sent to the Committee's legal department for  consideration of administrative liability. Concurrently, the reports  of the crimes were forwarded to the Investigative Committee for  consideration of initiating criminal proceedings. In another case, a  sole proprietor failed to require a client to present identification  when conducting a purchase and sale transaction over 100,000 drams,  registering the transaction using the client's son's passport. This  violated the procedure established by the decision of the Board of  the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia.

An employee of one currency exchange office also split a purchase and  sale transaction over 100,000 drams into two parts to avoid requiring  the client to present identification, which also constituted a  violation of the established procedure.

Three sole proprietors violated the relevant articles of the RA Law  "On Currency Regulation and Currency Control" by conducting currency  transactions without providing receipts confirming the transactions  in the prescribed manner, form, and with the required documents.

Two more companies concealed taxable turnover of approximately 60  million drams. As a result, the underpayment of taxes to the state  budget amounted to 11 million drams. As part of the measures taken,  the latter companies recovered the damage caused to the state.

"The State Revenue Committee urges individuals involved in the  purchase and sale of foreign currency to comply with the laws  governing currency relations and other legal acts adopted on their  basis, and urges citizens to request receipts confirming foreign  currency purchase and sale transactions. Information obtained as a  result of operational and investigative measures has also been  forwarded to the Central Bank for discussion regarding the liability  of those who committed violations," the statement reads.