Approximately $1.9 Million Embezzled in the ‘North-South’ Project

For nearly 9 years, the construction work on the North-South road has not been completed within the designated timelines, and the expected goals and outcomes related to reducing travel time, connecting the south of Armenia to the north with a safe, quality and fast road, and promoting the development of economic and business ties have not been achieved. The damage caused to the legitimate interests of the state amounts to 23,553,817,000 AMD.

In connection with the mentioned incidents, a criminal case was initiated on September 4, 2018, under the second part of Article 308 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and the pre-trial criminal proceedings are being conducted by the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

During the investigation, information was obtained that during the construction of Tranche 1 of the project, the head of the program team of the French joint venture responsible for technical oversight colluded with the representatives of the Spanish company performing construction works in the designated section, as well as with officials of the Armenian Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies, and other officials responsible for the proper implementation of the project. They are suspected of having included false, duplicate data on the volume of work in interim payment certificates prepared between January and June 2016, and made addendums, resulting in the fraudulent embezzlement of approximately $1.9 million.

A preventive measure of not leaving the country has been selected against the foreign head of the French organization's project team on suspicion of committing a criminal act under the first clause of the third part of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and he has been involved in the criminal case as a suspect.