Allegations of 10 Million Dram Embezzlement in Government Ministry; Criminal Case Initiated

As part of the lawsuit to protect state interests, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia has examined the documents received along with a letter from the Minister of High-Tech Industry regarding the procurement of computer equipment and network servers. This investigation has revealed apparent criminal misconduct.

In particular, contracts for the supply of 100 units of computer equipment and 2 network servers were signed in December 2019 with a company declared as the winner of the announced tenders amounting to 29,940,000 and 9,740,000 Armenian drams.

Responsible officials in the Ministry provided positive conclusions regarding the compliance of the supplied goods with the technical specifications of the contracts. Acceptance-receipt acts were compiled based on which the goods were accepted.

Subsequently, it was found that the supplied computer equipment did not meet the technical specifications outlined in the contracts. Specifically, servers provided instead of those capable of hot swapping were replaced with servers of a different model that are presented by the manufacturer as products intended for consumer purposes and do not offer hot swapping capability. Moreover, optical mice were supplied instead of the laser mice specified in the contract technical description.

It has been established that the actual price of the supplied and accepted network servers is lower than that of the equipment stipulated in the contracts.

In fact, responsible officials from the Ministry of High-Tech Industry misused their official position for personal gain or to benefit a group, providing clearly false information regarding the conformity of the supplied goods to the contractual requirements in the acceptance documents and the conclusions they prepared, thus accepting those goods. As a result, the state has suffered significant damage amounting to 9,740,000 Armenian drams.

Considering that the investigation has uncovered sufficient data containing the characteristics of apparent criminal acts, a criminal case has been initiated under Article 308, Part 1 and Article 314, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, with the case forwarded to the Investigative Committee for further investigation.

Notice: The person suspected or charged with the crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court verdict which has entered into legal force, in accordance with the procedures established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia.