Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office continues to face setbacks in court cases seeking compensation for damage caused to the state, due to filing claims in violation of the legally established statute of limitations.

Another ruling confirming such a violation was issued a few days ago, on March 12, 2026. The Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia, chaired by Judge L. Drmeyan, rejected a claim filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office against Artak Dashtoyan, director of Divino LLC (operations suspended), seeking compensation for damages caused to the state.

On June 16, 2025, the Prosecutor’s Office applied to the Anti-Corruption Court, demanding that Artak Dashtoyan pay 7,189,979 drams in compensation to the Republic of Armenia.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Dashtoyan underreported taxes paid to the state budget, which led to the initiation of criminal proceedings on June 1, 2022. The case was closed two months later. Subsequently, Divino LLC also failed to fulfill its tax obligations. On September 18, 2024, the company was declared bankrupt, and its tax liabilities were written off.

On July 28, the court granted the Prosecutor General’s request to impose interim measures, placing an arrest on Dashtoyan’s property in the amount of 7,189,979 drams. During the preliminary hearing held on December 1, 2025, the defense filed a motion invoking the statute of limitations.

Referring to relevant provisions of Armenia’s Civil Code, the defense argued that the statute of limitations should be calculated from the date of the inspection report compiled by the State Revenue Committee on May 30, 2022.

At the same time, the defense maintained that the starting point could also be considered August 26, 2021 — the date when criminal proceedings were initiated in a separate case involving a similar alleged tax violation. It was noted that by May 31, 2022, when all materials from the comprehensive tax audit of Divino LLC had been submitted to the State Revenue Committee, the Prosecutor’s Office had both the obligation and the real opportunity to obtain full information about the alleged tax liabilities, their grounds, and their amount.

On June 20, 2022, based on the same materials, a request was submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office to extend the pre-trial investigation period, detailing the identified violations. However, it was established that the Prosecutor General’s Office filed the lawsuit approximately one month and sixteen days after the expiration of the legally prescribed three-year limitation period.

In its ruling, the court stated that the motion and the submitted evidence confirm that the claim was filed after the statute of limitations had expired, and on this basis, dismissed the case.

It should be noted that the ruling may be appealed to the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia.