Abuse in the Compensation Process for Damage Caused by Deforestation in Teghut Mining Operations: Criminal Case Initiated

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia reports that under the initiative of the Department for Protection of State Interests, an investigation has been conducted regarding the enforcement of obligations foreseen by the state program for compensation for damages caused by deforestation during the Teghut mining operations.

Documents and information have been requested from the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Health, as well as the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia.

The investigation revealed that, within the framework of the Teghut mining program, the Armenian government had permitted, under decision number 1278-N dated November 1, 2007, the deforestation of approximately 357 hectares of forested area located both within and outside the administrative boundaries of the rural communities of Lori Province.

The ministers of Environment and Agriculture were instructed to approve a compensation program for the damage caused to the forestry sector, which included provisions for the planting of trees equivalent to the area of deforested land, as well as maintenance and care for the newly planted area.

In February 2008, joint decrees were issued by the ministers of Environment and Agriculture to regulate the processes for deforestation and compensation for damage to the forestry sector. Within this framework, a contract was signed on July 27, 2012, between Teghut LLC and the Hayantar State Non-Commercial Organization, whereby the latter committed to conduct various forestry operations for a sum of 431,638,661 AMD over the years 2012-2015 across 315 hectares.

The responsibility for overseeing the implementation of afforestation and maintenance activities was assigned to the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia.

According to documents prepared by officials of Hayantar from 2012 to 2015, inspections were carried out on three different sections covering a total of 132 hectares of the Vanadzor and Spitak forestry departments to verify the planting of seedlings, fencing, and agro-technical care activities that were reported as completed. Consequently, around 114,580,000 AMD was transferred from Teghut LLC to the Hayantar State Non-Commercial Organization.

However, observations conducted by the Forest State Monitoring Center on September 4, 2018, and April 9, 2019, indicated that a significant number of tree species planted in those areas had not survived, with many entirely dried out and a substantial number of plantings damaged by leaf-eating pests. These circumstances suggest that the afforestation and agro-technical maintenance works outlined in the contract were either not carried out or carried out only partially.

Thus, the investigation has established that officials from Hayantar State Non-Commercial Organization allegedly entered false information or provided blatantly incorrect reports in public documents regarding the completion of afforestation and agro-technical care activities, amounting to 114,580,000 AMD, causing severe consequences for the state. Furthermore, officials from the ministries of Environment and Agriculture allegedly disavowed their supervisory responsibilities from 2012 to 2015, resulting in significant repercussions for the state as well.

Based on the findings, a criminal case has been initiated within the Prosecutor General's Department for the Protection of State Interests under Articles 308, 314, and 315 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The investigation will also examine the roles of several other government bodies related to the subject matter in question, with the aim of assessing the actions of responsible officials from a criminal law perspective.

Notice: The suspect or accused individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedural regulations of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, by a legally enforced ruling of the court.