Charges Filed Against Two Individuals for Procuring Fake Medals for Parliamentary Needs and Related Abuses

On June 24, 2019, a report was filed by the chief specialist of the legal service department of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) regarding violations related to the procurement of medals. It was reported that from September 2016, a limited liability company (LLC) and from October to December 2017, an individual entrepreneur supplied medals and commemorative medals made from a different metal instead of the silver ones stipulated in the contract, causing property damage amounting to 4.5 million AMD and 3.5 million AMD, respectively.

Under proper prosecutorial supervision, the Investigative Division of the Yerevan Arabkir Administrative District (AD) has conducted an investigation in accordance with Article 178, Part 3, Clause 1, and Article 308, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. During the preliminary investigation, information was obtained that the head of the material and technical supply department of the NA, K. Kh., along with several officials responsible for the financial, economic, and accounting sectors of the NA from 2015 to 2017, deliberately circumvented several provisions established by the RA Law on Procurement and declared and implemented the purchase of the “Medal of Honor of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia” and the “Commemorative Medal of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.”

In these transactions, through a purchasing process from one person, violating procurement procedures, K. Kh. and officials of the NA, in agreement with S. E., an individual entrepreneur closely connected to the actual head of the LLC, acquired medals that did not correspond to the technical specifications of the orders issued by the NA president and were approximately ten times cheaper than the stipulated price.

According to the requisition documents for the purchase of goods, the medal and the commemorative medal were supposed to be made of silver, coated with a layer of gold, with a maximum price per unit of 38,000-40,000 AMD. However, a comprehensive forensic and commodity examination revealed that each of the NA’s medals had a market value of only 3,700-4,000 AMD, and the commemorative medals presented by the NA president were valued at 4,000-4,200 AMD, all made from a copper-zinc alloy with a superficial layer containing gold.

The investigation into transactions related to the commemorative medals revealed that a total of 32 transactions valued at 30 million AMD were carried out during that time, the majority conducted with the aforementioned LLC and private entrepreneur. In the process of acquiring 278 commemorative medals and 75 honor medals for the NA, approximately 9.5 million AMD was misappropriated.

K. Kh. has been charged under Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, and G. G., who effectively manages the LLC, has been charged under Article 38-179, Part 3, Clause 1 for aiding in the aforementioned actions. The damages have been restored by G. G. A decision was made by the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan to place both accused individuals in custody, although their lawyers’ requests to replace detention with bail were granted.

Appeals against this decision regarding the application of bail have been submitted by the prosecuting attorney and have been rejected by the Court of Cassation. A cassation appeal against the decision regarding K. Kh. was submitted by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Armenia on December 23, 2019, while the cassation appeal concerning the effective head of the LLC is currently in preparation.

Additionally, there has been evidence obtained of other apparent corrupt practices during the same period within the NA staff. The preliminary investigation is ongoing. Necessary investigative and procedural actions are being conducted to identify all persons involved in these activities and hold them criminally accountable.