Employees of Haypost and Social Services Embezzled Funds from the Underprivileged

The General Jurisdiction Court of Lori region has scheduled the first hearing for today in the case of embezzlement and misappropriation of cash assistance allocated to underprivileged families involving 25 employees from Haypost and the social service in Lori region.

The Lori prosecutor's office received the case on January 24, 2019.

Among the accused is Karen Meliksetyan, the director of Haypost's Stepanavan postal branch. According to the indictment, he colluded with Hrachya Sukiasyan, the chief specialist of the Stepanavan territorial agency of social support, to misappropriate substantial amounts of cash assistance intended for underprivileged families from several postal branches of Haypost. From January 1, 2013, to March 31, 2015, he received his share of funds, amounting to 250,000 AMD each month, through Armine Barkhudaryan, the senior operator of postal office number 1901, thus usurping a total of approximately 6,750,000 AMD through fraudulent means.

Hrachya Sukiasyan is charged with embezzlement of large sums of money. While working at the Stepanavan territorial agency of social support of the Lori regional administration, he colluded with the head of the same agency and senior operators of postal office number 1901, as well as postal workers, to fraudulently seize funds allocated as assistance to underprivileged families. From May 1, 2013, to June 30, 2018, he reportedly included several families in the database of the vulnerability assessment system without their knowledge and without the necessary documents required for such state assistance, thus having benefits designated in their names that were dispatched to the relevant postal offices of Haypost.

Subsequently, senior operators of postal office number 1901, including Armine Barkhudaryan, Sonia Kojoian, and postal workers Natalia Arakelyan and Anush Ayvazyan, having pre-arranged this plan, forged signatures on official documents for the names of the formal beneficiaries. They personally collected the funds and handed them over to Hrachya Sukiasyan. In return, Sukiasyan agreed to give 10 percent of the amount obtained to the aforementioned employees of Haypost and divided the remaining amount between himself and the head of the agency, Albert Gharakeshishyan, thereby embezzling substantial sums, totaling 50,035,500 AMD in benefits.