Social Services Specialist Arrested for Bribery

Police officers from the Main Criminal Intelligence Directorate against Organized Crime, in collaboration with the Lori Regional Department and the Taroni Division, conducted operational-investigative measures that led to information about a specialist from the social services territorial division of the Vanadzor municipal community demanding a bribe from a citizen.

Upon receiving operational information, police officers apprehended the social services specialist on suspicion immediately after receiving 28,000 AMD from the citizen near building 24 on Tigran Mets Boulevard in Vanadzor. During a personal search, police discovered banknotes dyed with special coloring agents, which were seized for further actions.

Further investigations revealed that the detained individual had demanded an illegal payment equivalent to one or two months' worth of state benefits in exchange for facilitating the inclusion of that citizen in the beneficiaries' list, ensuring that the payment of benefits would not be interrupted in the coming years, conducting the benefits distribution process without obstacles, ignoring the family's circumstances of a decent living, and concealing the facts regarding the termination of other conditions for receiving family benefits. Thus, from 2016 to April 23, 2019, he demanded and received a total of 112,000 AMD as illegal rewards.

A criminal case has been initiated at the Taroni Division of the Vanadzor police regarding this incident. The apprehended individual has been arrested.

The circumstances of the case are under investigation.