Abuses in the Civil Aviation Sector

The Public Interests Protection Department of the RA General Prosecutor's Office has studied the results of the audit conducted by the RA Audit Chamber in the Civil Aviation Committee of RA. Relevant documents have also been requested from the Civil Aviation Committee of RA, the State Revenue Committee of RA, the Police, and the "Aviation Training Center" LLC. Information has also been obtained from the electronic system of the State Registry of Legal Entities of the RA Ministry of Justice.

The study found that from 2007 to 2018, 27 student pilots were accepted by the "Aviation Training Center" LLC on a free of charge basis, of which 18 graduated with a pilot qualification. The training costs for student pilots amounted to a total of 888,778,000 AMD, allocated by the main administration of civil aviation of RA through contracts signed with the "Aviation Training Center" LLC (by its previous name). Of the total amount, 839,964,000 AMD constituted the expenses for flight practice.

According to the public relations department of the RA General Prosecutor's Office, for the purpose of conducting student pilots' training practice, contracts signed between the "Aviation Training Center" LLC and another company between 2013-2018 included a total payment of 592 million AMD for the rental of the "Diamond DA 40" aircraft for 2434 hours and 50 minutes of flight time.

The internal audit report of the Civil Aviation Administration of RA on February 14, 2016, stated that the "Aviation Training Center" LLC did not carry out procurement for the training practice of student pilots in 2015 but continued the operation of the contract signed with the company on June 7, 2013, without justification. According to the agreement signed between the main administration of civil aviation of RA and the "Aviation Training Center" LLC, the rental fee for training flights was calculated and paid without any justification at 38,600 AMD per hour, amounting to about 16 million AMD for a total of 414 hours.

Additionally, in the process of renting the "Diamond DA 40" aircraft, the procurement specification set forth the requirements for the carrier's certificate and the aircraft operator's certificate, but the only company that submitted a procurement application did not present the required certificates. Moreover, the rented aircraft was supposed to be manufactured in 2007, while the application claimed it was produced in 2006. Although the company's application was subject to rejection, it was recognized as a winner by the evaluative committee of the "Aviation Training Center" LLC, and a rental agreement for the aircraft was signed on January 13, 2016, worth 184,169,000 AMD.

It was also established that the acquisition cost of the mentioned aircraft, according to the customs declaration, was 86,217,000 AMD, meaning that the amount spent for renting the aircraft was almost seven times higher than its purchase price. According to data obtained from the State Revenue Committee of RA, the company that rented the aircraft had no registered, paid employees besides the director from 2013 to 2018. Furthermore, data obtained from the RA police and the Ministry of Justice's electronic system reveals that the participant and simultaneous director of that company had familial ties with the former responsible official of the main administration of civil aviation of RA.

Thus, the responsible officials of the main administration of civil aviation of RA abused their official positions in contradiction to service interests by allocating funds for aircraft rental and by the employees of "Aviation Training Center" LLC, using their regulatory or other powers in opposition to the interests of the organization and for the benefit of themselves or other individuals, resulting in a procurement process with violations, leading to unfounded rental costs totaling around 592 million AMD, creating severe consequences for the state.

Based on the findings, the Public Interests Protection Department of the General Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal case under parts 2 of Article 214 and 2 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code. The investigation has been assigned to the Investigative Committee of RA. Concurrently, a report has been submitted to the head of the Civil Aviation Committee of RA with the aim of eliminating the violations and deficiencies noted by the audit of the RA Audit Chamber and taking measures to prevent their recurrence in the future.