Have They Arrested the Department Head for Bribery?

According to Armdaily.am, recently law enforcement arrested Slava Ghazaryan, one of the department heads at the Shiraz Municipality, in connection with a bribery case.

The media outlet attempted to verify this information with Arevik Khachatryan, the head of the Public Relations Department at the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office, who mentioned that there is no such case in their office.

“We also tried to obtain information from the Shiraz Municipality. The spokesperson for the mayor, Sona Arakelyan, told us in a conversation that the reports do not correspond to reality. ‘Where did you get this information? I do not know what case you are talking about. Slava Ghazaryan is currently working and is not detained, nor has he been summoned. And he is not the department head, but an employee of the Real Estate Management Department,’” the spokesperson stated.

Shiraz Mayor Samvel Balasanyan also refused to comment. “I’m busy, call back later,” he said.

It should be noted that the Shiraz Municipality's website lists that Slava Ghazaryan has been the head of the Department for Control of Illegal Constructions and Land Seizures since July 2009. However, in our conversation, the spokesperson noted that they have not had such a department for a long time. “Our departments have merged, and we no longer have that department,” the spokesperson indicated.