The mayor of Aragatzavan, a rural community ion Armenia’s Aragatzotn Province, has been found guilty of illegally using the community’s finances in a scheme to boost tax revenues.

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), in a statement released today, says that mayor approved the allocation of AMD 13.6 million to 339 Aragatzavan residents, in the form of social assistance payments, only to collect the funds in the form of tax payments.

It seems that the municipality was found lagging in its tax collection efforts and needed to boost its numbers to a satisfactory level.

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, believing that the scheme might exist in other communities, has appealed to Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan to investigate the mater.