Armenian authorities are demanding that Shirak Center NGO, which has been actively involved in Gyumri's homeless issues, pay AMD 5 million in income tax to the state budget for 8 apartments donated to homeless Gyumri families.

According to a statement [ARM] published on the NGO's official website Tuesday, the Center has already applied to Armenia's highest officials, including the president and the prime minister, for tax exemption, stating that “we do not have the means to pay the amount demanded by tax authorities for apartments purchased as charitable donations.”

Over the past years, the statement continues, individual donors and international organizations, with the Center acting as an intermediary, bought apartments for as many as 76 Gyumri families. However, since some of the recipients subsequently went ahead and sold these apartments, the donors demanded that the apartments bought in the future be considered the property of Shirak Center for at least 15 years before finally transferring the property in the tenants' name.

Shirak Center claims that “we have not received a penny” from this charity program; moreover, on more than one occasion the organization paid for cadastral and notarial services out of its own pocket.