Charges Filed Against Dilijan Community Leader for Official Forgery

The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia's Tavush Regional Investigation Department has uncovered numerous instances of alleged official forgery and abuse of powers by the Dilijan community leader as a result of extensive investigative and procedural actions conducted in a criminal case.

It has been established that the community leader, who has held the position since 2005, was responsible for the preservation and management of the properties, territories, and other material resources of the city of Dilijan. Acting out of self-interest and disregarding the laws on 'Subsoil' and 'Local Self-Government', he exploited his official position against the interests of his service, lacking the authority to grant rights for subsurface use or to dispose of community property.

During the years 2013-2016, without presenting any proposals to the community council, the leader entered into contracts with the president of a production cooperative, who is a close associate, for the gratuitous provision of about 21.205 cubic meters of gravel-sand mixture resulting from the cleaning of the Aghstev River bed. This action caused significant damage to the rights and legal interests of the state and the community.

Furthermore, from 2016 to 2019, the community leader regularly provided the community-owned excavator of the model 'TLB-825-RM' and a truck of the model 'MAZ' to the president of the mentioned cooperative for gratuitous use, again without any formal documentation and without consulting the community council. When the fact of transferring community property without proper documentation was revealed by law enforcement, the leader, in collusion with the cooperative's president, retroactively created a forged document that pretended to be a contract regarding the rental of the mentioned equipment to the cooperative.

Based on gathered sufficient evidence, charges have been filed against the Dilijan community leader under Article 308 (abuse of official powers) and Article 314 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The preliminary investigation is ongoing.