About 85 Million Dram Damage to the State from Corruption Crimes in Shirak

In the first four months of 2019, the prosecutors of the Shirak region of Armenia initiated 26 criminal cases of a corrupt nature under their procedural management or supervision. All these cases have been initiated by the prosecutors themselves. The preliminary investigation into these criminal cases is currently ongoing. This information is reported by the Prosecutor's Office.

The criminal cases were opened for various offenses including embezzlement or waste through the misuse of official position, causing property damage through deception or abuse of trust, abuse of official authority, misuse of powers by employees of commercial or other organizations, forgery of documents, and the receipt, giving, and mediation of bribes.

The identified corruption cases were recorded in the following sectors:

• 12 cases in local self-government;
• 10 cases in education;
• 1 case in cadastral activities;
• 1 case in military recruitment;
• 1 case in banking;
• 1 case in healthcare.

During 2019, during the preliminary investigation of the initiated criminal cases, three individuals were prosecuted, two of whom were school directors and one was a director of a vocational school.

For all the aforementioned officials who are under prosecution, a non-leaving signature measure has been applied (in one case, this measure was implemented as a result of a change from pre-trial detention).

During the specified period, for other criminal cases being investigated concerning corrupt crimes, the prosecution of four individuals was terminated on unjustified grounds due to the application of an amnesty act, as well as the basis of genuine remorse shown by the defendants.

According to the new criminal policy adopted by the Republic of Armenia's General Prosecutor's Office, after charges are brought against officials in each corruption case, the issue of temporarily suspending the official's duties or their dismissal, as well as taking other disciplinary actions, is subject to discussion, with relevant competent officials submitting requests. In this context, based on the requests made by the regional prosecutor, one official suspected of committing a manifest corruption crime was dismissed, while disciplinary actions were applied to 14 other officials.

During the first four months of 2019, the damage caused to the state from the corruption-related criminal cases prepared and initiated amounted to 84,978,091 Armenian drams, of which 9,350,000 drams have been recovered. These results exceed the same period of the previous year by three times.