1.43 Million Dram Misappropriated: Abuses in the Ushiq Community Administration

A criminal case has been initiated at the Aragatsotn Regional Prosecutor's Office regarding the misappropriation of a particularly large amount by officials of the Ushiq community in Aragatsotn province. This was reported by the press service of the prosecutor's office.

Information has been received by the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Department of the RA Police regarding embezzlement in the Ushiq community of Aragatsotn province.

In this regard, materials were prepared at the Ashtarak Police Department, during which it was revealed that certain officials of the community, using their official position, embezzled approximately 3,208,680 AMD through misappropriation from 2017 to 2019.

Particular factual data has been received indicating that these individuals embezzled 1,430,000 AMD, which was drawn as wages in the name of a cleaning staff hired by the community, from September 11, 2017, to the present day.

According to the received factual data, during 2017-2018, a total of 820,000 AMD was embezzled from the community budget, which had been allocated as assistance for 17 individuals.

Additionally, it was found that approximately 958,000 AMD was withdrawn from the community budget under the pretext of purchasing building materials for the improvement of the Ushiq community and was embezzled between November 14 and 18, 2017.

Considering that the prepared materials evidently contain data indicating characteristics of a particularly large-scale embezzlement, the prosecutor of the Aragatsotn region has initiated a criminal case based on Part 1 of Article 179 of the RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation has been entrusted to the Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee in Aragatsotn province.