Employee Embezzles 2.5 Million AMD Salary in Corruption Case

Clear evidence of corruption has been uncovered at the Gyumri Children's and Youth Sports Complex and the Infectious Tuberculosis Hospital, leading to the initiation of criminal cases in the regional prosecutor's office.

Specifically, on June 25, 2019, the Mush division of the Armenian Police submitted a report indicating that the director of the Gyumri Children's and Youth Sports Complex had committed irregularities. During the preparation of materials, joint efforts by the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Unit of the National Security Service and law enforcement officers from the Mush division revealed that a wrestling coach at the complex had been absent from Armenia for a total of 29 months between 2014 and 2018. Nevertheless, the director used his official position to keep this employee on the payroll, issuing a total salary of approximately 2.5 million AMD in his name.

In another case, on June 26, 2019, based on information received from staff of the National Security Service, evidence was found that the executive director of the Gyumri Infectious Tuberculosis Hospital had employed three individuals as a sanitary worker, nurse, and electrician, who also worked as a laborer, doorman, and driver. However, during various months, two of them were absent from Armenia, while the third did not fulfill his job responsibilities. Each month, the director falsified records of working hours to misrepresent the attendance and actual times worked by these individuals. Subsequently, reports based on these false documents were submitted to the Ministry of Health, resulting in fraudulent appropriation of a significant amount of approximately 2.6 million AMD through the abuse of official position.

Considering that the prepared materials contain elements of a crime, and a comprehensive, multi-faceted, and objective investigation is required to clarify the circumstances, the Shirak regional prosecutor’s office has initiated criminal cases in both instances: against the Gyumri Children's and Youth Sports Complex under parts 1 and 3 of Article 179, and part 1 of Article 325 of the RA Criminal Code, and against the Gyumri Infectious Tuberculosis Hospital under part 1 of Article 325 and parts 1.1 and 2 of Article 178. The criminal cases have been forwarded to the Shirak Regional Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for further investigation.

Notice: A suspect or accused of a crime is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, with a legally binding court judgment.