Armenian Tax Chief Resigns

Armenia -- Davit Ananian, head of the State Revenue Committee, arrives for a news conference in Yerevan, July 9, 2019.

Davit Ananian, the head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), unexpectedly resigned on Thursday.

Ananian gave no reasons for the resignation when he announced it on Facebook.

“In order to end rumors circulating in the media I want to inform that today I tendered my resignation to the prime minister of Armenia,” he wrote.

“I want to thank everyone for effective and production cooperation and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for entrusting this important position to me for more than two years,” he added without elaborating.

Pashinian did not immediately accept the resignation or make statements on it.

Ananian, 48, was appointed as head of the national tax and customs services in May 2018 shortly after the “Velvet Revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. He served as deputy finance minister in Armenia’s previous government. Former Prime Minister Karen Karapetian had appointed him to that post in 2016.

According to his official biography, Ananian, 46, worked as a tax inspector in the 1990s and ran a private tax and accounting consultancy from 2006-2016.

Ananian promised a tougher government crackdown on companies and individuals evading taxes when he took over the SRC. The current government’s tax revenues have risen significantly since then, a fact regularly emphasized by Pashinian.