Officers of the Department of Economic Security and Countering Corruption and the Syunik Regional Department of the National Security Service of RA, consistently combating corruption phenomena, in cooperation with the employees of the Anti-Smuggling Department of the SRC of RA, as a result of large-scale investigative, procedural actions, as well as complex operative-search measures, it was established that the head of the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House Department of the SRC of RA, being an official, in the period from 5 July, 2020 to 3 March, 2021 inclusive, by prior agreement with other employees being officials of the same customs post, for knowingly committing illegal actions in favor of persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities, received bribes in an especially large amount, committed official forgeries, and also, based on mercenary motives, used their official position contrary to the interests of the service, did not carry out their official duties, causing significant damage to the legitimate interests of the state, entailing grave consequences due to negligence.

Thus, H. M., holding the position of the head of the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House Department of the SRC of RA, accepted a proposal from persons involved in the importation of various kinds of goods from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the territory of the Republic of Armenia, to give him and customs inspector A.P. a bribe on especially large scale for committing obviously illegal actions and refraining from committing certain actions in favor of the mentioned persons, by prior agreement with the customs inspector A.P. and other officials.

After reaching this agreement, the mentioned officials, with the intent of committing apparent illegal actions in favor of economic entities, namely, importing metal fittings and liquids intended for cooling car engines from the Islamic Republic of Iran through the Meghri checkpoint into the territory of the Republic of Armenia by hiding from the customs control and bypassing customs clearance procedures and, thereby, exempting the economic entity from paying customs duties, did not fulfill their official duties, namely, reliably knowing about the presence in trucks of goods subject to customs clearance after they were delivered to the customs post control pavilion, did not carry out registration in the manner prescribed by the customs legislation, did not keep records, did not weigh and conceal the presence of goods subject to declaration in the vehicle.

Then, in the conditions of failure to submit a customs declaration for goods, established by the Decree of the Government of RA dated 30 July, 2015 N 865-N, failure by responsible officials to conduct an external examination of the car, failure to check the integrity of the security means applied to the cargo part, they did not apply the customs security means used by the customs authorities of RA, did not make the appropriate entries in the shipping documents, did not fill in and submit the goods and transit declarations established by the customs legislation, did not perform the necessary functions of documentary and actual control, instead they allowed the entry of vehicles into the close inspection building and the parking lot of trucks, and then - to the X-ray inspection and filming building.

After that, with the intent to conceal their criminal activities, they drew up and certified with an official seal internal transit declarations, which are official documents, on the transportation of goods with apparent false information. In order to ensure unhindered delivery to a predetermined destination of goods belonging to the briber subject to customs clearance, presenting them in case of possible checks on the way to the inspectors and hiding the criminal mechanism used in this way, false declarations were provided to truck drivers with the condition that they be destroyed upon arrival to a predetermined point.

In the context of application of the developed criminal scheme, during 2020, by hiding from customs control from the Islamic Republic of Iran through the Meghri checkpoint, to the territory of the Republic of Armenia on trucks, metal fittings with a total weight of about 70,250 tons and a liquid intended for cooling car engines, with a total weighing 23 tons. For the commission of such actions, the above-mentioned officials received bribes in especially large amounts.

In addition to the above, carrying out entrepreneurial activities V. D., the owner of a company registered in the State Register of Legal Entities of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, in the period from September, 2020 to 3 March, 2021 inclusive, for the purpose of importing Iranian-made motor oils intended for car engines “DRIFT 7000 SAE 40”, from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the territory of the Republic of Armenia, by hiding from customs control and bypassing the customs clearance procedures, appealed to the employees of the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House of the SRC of RA and, by means of persuasion, induced them to abuse their official powers, in order to bypass the customs procedure "Release for domestic consumption" to import motor oils into the Republic of Armenia and thus evade paying taxes and duties on an especially large scale.

With the consent of the officials, Iranian-made motor oils intended for car engines were imported into the Republic of Armenia without the appropriate customs clearance on a vehicle registered in the Islamic Republic of Iran through the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House of the SRC of RA exclusively during the change of the head of the department of that same customs H.M.

H. M. and a number of customs inspectors of the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House of the SRC of RA, who were on duty with him on the indicated days, having entered into a prior agreement with each other and reliably knowing about the presence of goods subject to customs clearance in trucks, after their entry into the pavilion intended for control did not undergo customs clearance in accordance with customs legislation, in particular, on the same days, customs inspectors, abusing their official powers and not fulfilling their official duties, did not weigh trucks, did not enter their data into a single database, after which, without the established documents, trucks were allowed to leave the customs post by entering false information in the lines of filling in the license plate of the vehicle in the exit log of the Meghri Customs Checkpoint Division of the Southern Customs House of the SRC of RA, indicating in it, instead of a valid license plate of a truck, the registration plate of a vehicle that had never entered the same customs post and does not exist, based on a group interest, entering deliberately false information into official documents, thereby committing an official forgery.

As a result of the above actions, the natural activity of the customs service of the SCR of RA was disrupted, the economic entity engaged in entrepreneurial activities and importing goods on a large scale to the Republic of Armenia evaded payment of the customs duty, excise tax, value added tax and environmental duty on a particularly large-scale established by law, thereby causing significant damage to the legitimate interests of the state, which negligently caused grave consequences.

As a result of large-scale investigative and other procedural actions carried out within the framework of the criminal case initiated on the fact in the Investigation Department of the National Security Service of RA, as well as operative-search measures taken in parallel with them, a truck loaded with 1332 barrels of engine oil and smuggled to Martuni, Gegharkunik Province, was discovered and seized by the officers of the National Security Service of RA during unloading.

As a result of about a dozen searches carried out in connection with the criminal case, a sufficient body of evidence was found indicating the fact of regular smuggling of goods into the Republic of Armenia, including official documents, magazines, declarations containing false entries, customs computers were searched, as a result of which it was established that the data of trucks that passed the customs post and were of interest to the criminal case were not entered into the electronic databases of the SRC, thereby exempting the economic entities from paying taxes and duties and creating unequal competitive conditions for others.

In the context of a sufficient body of evidence obtained in the criminal case, decisions were made to involve the head of the customs department, the deputy, two inspectors of the customs department, the person who assisted them, the driver of the truck, as well as three economic entities as defendants on the grounds of the relevant articles of the RA Criminal Code, and on the same day, arrest was chosen as a measure of restraint against six of them, and a measure of restraint not related to deprivation of liberty was applied against the other three.

The necessary investigative and other procedural actions are being taken in the direction of establishing the real amount of damage caused to the state as a result of the use of the criminal mechanism, detecting other criminal manifestations committed by customs inspectors and economic entities, establishing the full range of persons involved in the corruption mechanism, and giving an adequate criminal-legal evaluation to their actions.

The National Security Service urges economic entities to carry out their activities exclusively in the legal field and refrain from manifestations of corruption.

Note: The suspect or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent as long as his/her guilt is not proven in a manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure of RA - by the court decision entered into legal force.