Urgent: Decision Made to Arrest Former MP Arthur Gevorgyan

A decision has been made to involve former Member of Parliament Arthur Gevorgyan as an accused in a case of concealing assets that are subject to declaration and illegal enrichment. This conclusion follows a monitoring of media reports carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia, particularly a publication on Hetq.am dated February 26, 2020, titled "Former MP A.G. sold American properties and purchased a $1.5 million house in Glendale."

The article was forwarded by the Armenian General Prosecutor's Office to the Special Investigative Service for preparing materials and resolving the issue in accordance with the law on criminal procedure. Based on the materials prepared from this publication, a criminal case was initiated by the Special Investigative Service based on articles 314.3, part 2, and 310, part 1 of the Armenian Criminal Code.

During the investigation, it was established that A.G., a member of the National Assembly for the 5th and 6th convocations, had concealed information related to three large properties in the U.S. while serving as a declarant public official between 2012 and 2019, as required by the Law on Public Service of Armenia. Specifically, he failed to declare a property in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, which was purchased for $490,000 on April 6, 2011, a property on Campbell Avenue in Glendale for $520,000 on August 10, 2015, and several apartments on Witsit Avenue in Valley Village acquired on June 2, 2016, along with his 100% interest in a specific company.

In his declarations submitted to the Ethics Commission of High-Ranking Officials, A.G. reported unchanged values of 50 million AMD, 1.6 million USD, and 150,000 Euros regarding his assets, income, and connected persons as of January 14, 2019, the day he left official duties. However, on January 10, 2019, he purchased a house in Glendale for $1,525,000, part of which was financed through loans. He concealed this financially relevant information in his declaration submitted to the Ethics Commission.

This means that A.G. did not declare the mentioned real estate, which exceeds 1 million AMD, thus illegally enriching himself. The acquisition of the property in the U.S. significantly exceeded his legally reported income during the relevant period and cannot be reasonably justified by those earnings.

Based on this, the investigating authority has decided to involve A.G. as an accused for allegedly committing criminal offenses under article 314.1, part 2, and article 310.1, part 1 of the Armenian Criminal Code. Considering that the accused has been outside Armenia since February 29, 2019, and his whereabouts are unknown, a search warrant has been issued, and a motion has been presented to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan to select arrest as a preventive measure, which has been granted.

Note: A suspect or accused in a supposed crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law of the Republic of Armenia, by a court ruling that has entered into force.