Today the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the Government Draft Decision on the procedure for paying funds subject to recovery in criminal proceedings within the framework of damage caused to the state and community to the unified treasury account.

The mentioned draft was developed in the result of the activities of a working group formed by the decision of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, consisting of representatives of interested departments. The working group was headed by the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia.

The primary objective of the adoption of the Decision is to receive unified and accurate data on funds recovered in criminal proceedings, as well as the management of the mentioned funds and expenses by the Ministry of Finance.

The purpose of the mentioned decision is to establish unified regulations for the payment of funds for the restoration of damage caused in criminal proceedings to

• the state,
• community,
• organizations with state or community participation,
• establishment of unified regulations for the payment of funds to compensate for damage caused to state or community non-governmental organizations with state or community participation.

In particular:

• In the scope of criminal proceedings, funds for the restoration of damage caused to the state, community, state or organizations with community participation or the non-governmental organizations will be paid to the Unified Account for Recovered Funds.

• The Prosecutor General's Office will submit information to the Ministry of Finance on a quarterly basis on those criminal proceedings where damage has been restored and there is a final court decision entered into legal force, which will enable the Ministry of Finance to already dispose the mentioned amounts as income.

• In case of rehabilitation of a person, the Prosecutor General's Office will transfer the relevant information to the Ministry of Finance so that the amounts paid for the purpose of damage recovery are returned to the person who made the payment.

• The amounts for the purpose of damage recovery caused to individuals and legal entities will be paid to the deposit account of the Prosecutor's Office and transferred to the victim after the final court act.

• After the final procedural act enters into legal force, funds for the restoration of damage caused to the state, community, state or organizations with community participation or the non-governmental organizations will be transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the account of the relevant state, community, state or organizations with community participation or the non-governmental organizations based on the Prosecutor's Office's letter.

• Exceptions to the proposed regulations are established for certain tax crimes, in which case they are intended to be paid to the taxpayer's single account in order to exclude possible adverse consequences for economic entities (fines, etc.).
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The Government's decision also regulates the order of recovering damages caused to individuals and legal entities in criminal proceedings, as well as the procedure for publishing data on recovered funds and frozen funds.

During the reporting period the Prosecutor General's Office will publish information on a semi-annual basis on the funds recovered in criminal proceedings, as well as on the Republic of Armenia's drams frozen as property, according to the differentiation of the preliminary investigation bodies.

The account to which the funds will be transferred will be called the "Unified Account for Recovered Funds."