Official Aide to the President of the Constitutional Court Arrested

The head of the supply department of the Administrative-Economic Division of the National Assembly Staff has been arrested. This was announced by Naira Harutyunyan, the head of the information and public relations department of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

The arrested individual is Kochary Kachaturyan, who is an aide to the President of the Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasyan.

In connection with a criminal case initiated regarding the supply of medals and commemorative medals made of different metals instead of the silver medals to the National Assembly, several circumstances have been clarified within the framework of the Araqbir investigative department of the RA Investigative Committee.

On June 24, 2019, a report was received from an employee of the Legal Services Division of the RA National Assembly at the Araqbir division of the RA police, indicating that between September and December 2016, medals and commemorative medals made of metals other than silver were supplied to the National Assembly, causing property damage.

A criminal case was initiated at the Araqbir division of the RA police under the first paragraph of part 3 of Article 178 of the RA Criminal Code, and it was sent to the Investigative Committee of the RA for further investigation.

During the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, various investigative actions were carried out, all documents related to the aforementioned purchases were seized, personal files of employees involved in the procedures were collected, incoming and outgoing documentation was obtained, and all medals were confiscated from the storage of the National Assembly Staff.

Searches were conducted in the residences of National Assembly staff members. As a result of the investigative actions conducted, factual data was obtained regarding the head of the Material and Technical Provision Division of the Administrative Management of the National Assembly, who, using their official position, embezzled a particularly large amount of 9,359,083 AMD through wastage methods.

Specifically, the head of the division, endowed with organizational-managerial and administrative-economic powers, organizes the material and technical support of National Assembly sessions, parliamentary hearings, and other official and protocol events, engages in marketing products, and organizes and implements purchasing, storage, and supply processes for the National Assembly's material and technical support, with the intent to commit theft, assisted a friend operating in the jewelry sector, and violated the decisions on the forms of the RA National Assembly Honorary Medal and the Commemorative Medal of the President of the National Assembly by organizing the procurement of medals that did not meet the established technical specifications at significantly higher market prices, costing between 32,000 and 40,000 AMD during the years of 2015-2017.