Charges Filed Against 249 Individuals; State Damage Amounts to 772.5 Million Dram

The Office of the General Prosecutor of Armenia has summarized the criminal cases related to corruption in the social security sector from January 1, 2018, to May 31, 2019. This information was provided by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office.

During the investigation, it became evident that from the mentioned period, a total of 166 criminal cases were initiated based on the features defined in Articles 178, 179, 311, and 312 of the Armenian Criminal Code regarding corruption in social security areas, including the provision of social assistance for the impoverished, pension distribution, and the operations of medical-social expertise committees. Out of these, 151 were connected to providing social assistance for the impoverished, six to pension distribution, and nine to the activities of medical-social expertise commissions.

Criminal manifestations have been discovered in all regions of the Republic, as well as in the capital, Yerevan, indicating a widespread nature of the offenses. Furthermore, an analysis of the factual circumstances of the criminal cases reveals that particularly in the provision of assistance to the impoverished, criminal actions were characterized by an organized schematized nature with clearly rooted mechanisms. Specifically, public servants not holding official positions and various employees proposed requests regarding the legitimacy of data presented in family composition declaration forms, issued positive conclusions, determined family poverty indices programmatically, included beneficiaries in the lists, and for years continued to demand and receive various amounts of illegal remuneration in exchange for not halting payments of assistance in subsequent years.

Moreover, hundreds of citizens have been included in the lists of beneficiaries without their knowledge, and the funds allocated to them by the state have been embezzled by heads of territorial agencies and other staff of the social services. Most criminal offenses were predominantly committed against vulnerable groups, especially individuals included in the family social assistance system living in dire material conditions.

The conducted study has shown that those involved in the corruption scheme included heads of territorial agencies of provincial governors or city municipalities' social services, junior, senior, and leading specialists of the agencies, directors of territorial branches of Haypost CJSC, postal workers and operators, employees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and heads and members of the territorial commissions of the Medical-Social Expertise Agency.

Notably, for various types of criminal acts committed under these criminal cases, charges were filed against 249 individuals, including 88 specialists or inspectors from the regional divisions of the social assistance agency, 8 heads and their deputies of the same agency's territorial division, 25 directors, postal workers, and employees of Haypost CJSC’s branches, 2 heads of medical-social expertise commissions, 4 medical-expert members of such commissions, 1 medical coder from the commission, 8 employees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, 1 former community leader, and 113 citizens. Among these, only 17 individuals, or just 7%, were subjected to preventive detention, of which 12 were subjected to alternative measures of restraint.

During the stated period, 12 criminal cases concerning 41 individuals were sent to court under the indictment. Among these, 14 are specialists or inspectors from the social assistance agency's regional divisions, 3 heads and their deputies of the same agency's territorial division, 22 directors, postal workers, and employees of Haypost CJSC’s branches, 1 former community leader, and 1 citizen. Of the individuals involved in the criminal cases sent to court, 33 have been convicted.

State damage caused by these crimes amounts to 772.5 million Armenian dram, with about 139 million dram having been recovered during this period.