Katoyan Appeals to Chief Prosecutor for Investigation into Possible Corruption

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia has appealed to the Chief Prosecutor of Armenia to conduct relevant investigations into possible corruption and to provide a legal assessment.

This information has been provided by the public relations department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

In 2017, the Armenian government issued a corresponding instruction to allocate a space to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs for the creation of a Territorial Center for Integrated Social Services in the Kentron administrative district. According to the decision No. 1436-A of the Armenian government in 2017, a public-purpose area of 1,719.96 square meters located at 1/2 Tsitsernakaberd Highway, address No. 296 in the Malatia-Sebastia administrative district of Yerevan, was sold to the Republic of Armenia for a price equal to its total market value of 1,240,423,000 AMD as of November 7, 2017.

During the World Bank's mission to support the implementation of its program on April 25-26, 2019, the World Bank team deemed it inappropriate to establish the Kentron Territorial Center for Integrated Social Services in the aforementioned area. As a result, the need arose to acquire a new area for exchange purposes. An independent appraisal organization evaluated the real estate and provided the corresponding appraisal report. According to the report, the value of the real estate amounts to 282,700,000 AMD, while the value of the land is 39,000,000 AMD, totaling 321,700,000 AMD.

Comparing the current value with the total market value assessed as of November 7, 2017, a clear discrepancy is evident, which prompted the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to appeal to the Prosecutor's Office for investigation.