Gyumri School Principal Accused of Taking Bribes of Nearly 1 Million AMD

The principal of Gyumri Number 27 Secondary School has been arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes in particularly large amounts and abusing official powers, following investigative and operational search measures conducted by the Shirak Regional Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee.

According to a statement from the press service of the Investigative Committee, on February 12, 2019, the Shirak Regional Prosecutor's Office received a complaint from the principal of Gyumri Number 27 Secondary School. The complaint stated that during inspections conducted at the school by employees of the Ministry of Education and Science from February 6 to 8, 2019, it was revealed that subjects such as physics, Armenian language, chemistry, and physical education had not been taught, despite teachers assigned to those classes receiving salaries.

The principal also indicated that they had not previously been aware of this situation, while the deputy principal responsible for overseeing the educational process confirmed the teaching of these subjects through their entries in the official logs.

An explanation was also provided by a school employee, stating that the physics teacher had been abroad during the 2016-2017 academic year and had not taught the subject to students, although funds for their salary had been withdrawn from the school's fund.

On February 20, 2019, a criminal case was initiated under Article 179, Part 2, Clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code (misappropriation or waste of property through official position) and Article 325, Part 1 (forgery, sale or use of documents, stamps, seals, forms, or state registration plates).

Furthermore, a report was received from a resident of Gyumri stating that in order to be employed as a physics teacher at Gyumri Number 27 Secondary School, they had, at the principal's request and previously arranged agreement, given a substantial sum of 960,920 AMD to the principal's assistant between February 19 and 21, 2018.

On March 4, 2019, a criminal case was opened based on the features specified in Article 311, Part 3, Clause 3 and Article 312, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code.

On March 22, 2019, it was decided to merge the two criminal cases into a single proceeding for a joint investigation.

On March 26, 2019, the principal of Gyumri Number 27 Secondary School was arrested on suspicion of committing criminal acts under Article 311, Part 3, Clause 3, Article 311, Part 4, Clause 2 (receiving bribes through extortion) and Article 309, Part 1 (abuse of official powers).

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.