Details on the Case of Norair Panosyan, Protégé of Hrayr Tovmasyan

The court has today approved the investigator's request to impose pre-trial detention on Norair Panosyan, former head of the Legal Oversight Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice and an employee of the company "Land and Property Transactions," according to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

It has been previously reported that during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case being examined within the General Department for Investigation of Corruption and Electoral Crimes, the investigators, in collaboration with employees of the RA Police's Anti-Corruption Department, obtained substantial evidence concerning cases of abuse of official powers by Norair Panosyan, who held the position of the head of the aforementioned inspectorate during Hrayr Tovmasyan's tenure as Minister of Justice, along with other officials from the RA Ministry of Justice and the Yerevan City Hall.

The preliminary investigation revealed and established that Norair Panosyan, serving as the head of the Legal Oversight Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice from 2011 to 2014 and endowed with organizational, managerial, regulatory, and oversight powers, together with a number of other officials from the same ministry and the Yerevan City Hall, engaged in actions for profit motives, personal interests, and group benefits. They improperly used their official positions in contradiction to the interests of the service during 2012-2013 in relation to the notaries operating at 14 Building, Isakyan St., 1st Dead End, Yerevan, by issuing verbal orders and threatening to impede their professional activities and dismiss them from their jobs, as well as indirectly notifying a notary operating at 43 Bagratuniats St., Yerevan, about their involvement in the privatization of the area.

As a result, these actions deprived the aforementioned notaries of the right stipulated in Clause 3 of Article 91 of the Law on Notary of the Republic of Armenia, as previously appointed and qualified notaries, to register the right to gratuitous use of the properties they were using, which had been renovated with their funds and occupied by them under the government decision No. 604-N dated May 29, 2009, with the intention of acquiring these immovable properties independently. Consequently, significant damage was inflicted on the state and the Yerevan community, as well as on the rights and legitimate interests of the mentioned notaries, resulting in severe consequences due to negligence.

Specifically, Norair Panosyan, being the one responsible for overseeing the legality of the notaries' activities, was informed through written and oral requests from the notaries about their intention to register their right for gratuitous use of the properties where they operated, based on Clause 3 of Article 91 of the Law on Notary, fully aware that renting out the specified areas could generate guaranteed high income. Instead of facilitating the registration of the right for gratuitous use, through collusion with several other officials from the RA Ministry of Justice and the Yerevan City Hall, and driven by profit motivations, personal interests, and group benefits, he abused his official position. He issued verbal orders to the mentioned notaries at 14 Building, Isakyan St., 1st Dead End, Yerevan, and threatened to impede their professional activities and dismiss them from their jobs. Additionally, regarding the notary at 43 Bagratuniats St., Yerevan, he indirectly informed them about their involvement in the privatization of the area.

The criminal actions have resulted in the sale of state-owned and community-owned immovable properties at a value of AMD 45,630,000 less than their market value, thereby depriving the community of equivalent income from these transactions, while the notaries, who were entitled to conduct their activities free of charge in the occupied areas, were denied this opportunity and suffered damages amounting to approximately AMD 127,000,000.

Based on the obtained evidence, charges have been brought against Norair Panosyan under Part 2 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code, while employee Tigran Davt's Ter-Harutyunyan from the "Land and Property Transactions" LLC has been charged under Parts 2 of Article 38-308 and Part 1 of Article 325 of the RA Criminal Code. The investigator has requested the court to impose pre-trial detention on them, which has been granted.

The preliminary investigation continues, and necessary investigative and procedural actions are being taken to clarify all circumstances significant to the case, identify the guilty parties, and bring them to criminal responsibility.