Charges Filed Against Former Head of Chkalovka Community and Five Council Members

The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia has filed charges against the former head of the Chkalovka community in the Gegharkunik region, following extensive investigative and procedural actions regarding abuses committed by the community leader.

It was revealed that the community leader had reached an agreement with several members of the community council to mismanage significant amounts from the community budget for non-targeted and ineffective purposes, directing the funds to meet the needs of themselves, their close relatives, several employees of the community administration, and their families.

In this regard, the former community leader and the council members violated provisions of the RA Law on Local Self-Government, failing to establish a procedure for providing social assistance, and from 2008 to 2016, made decisions to allocate 11,058,000 AMD in benefits, without conducting studies on the social situations of individuals receiving social benefits in committee meetings; 10,108,000 AMD of that amount was actually disbursed. These funds were primarily allocated to the relatives of the community administration's secretary and accountant, council members, and their relatives, as well as to the friends of the community leader.

Additionally, during his seven years in office, the community leader brought proposals to the community council to exempt himself, his relatives, several community administration staff members, and council members from paying property taxes on their vehicles, as well as from paying land taxes. Consequently, decisions were made to grant exemptions totaling 490,476 AMD in property taxes for vehicles and 558,100 AMD in land taxes, in violation of the legal requirements.

The former community leader, without mentioning the necessity to acquire a vehicle for community needs in the four-year development plan and failing to justify the urgency of the purchase, attempted to register a luxury-class BMW vehicle worth 7,300,000 AMD, which he was practically using, under the community's name, withdrawing 10,400,000 AMD from the community budget. For this purpose, on April 13, 2015, he presented the issue of selling approximately 8.8 hectares of land, a primary asset of the community, which was sold at auction for 10.4 million AMD, and the proceeds were directed toward purchasing the aforementioned vehicle.

To complete his criminal intent, the former leader, along with council members, violated Article 12 of the RA Law on Procurement during the announcement of the simplified procedure for the vehicle purchase. Subsequently, members of the competition commission, at the community leader's instigation, created official falsified documents regarding the process without actually conducting a competition, and recognized the proposal submitted by a council member as the winning one. Afterward, the community leader signed a contract with that council member for the vehicle purchase, based on which 9,455,000 AMD was transferred from the community budget to him, while 945,000 AMD was paid to the central treasury as a 10% income tax on the acquired passenger vehicle.

As a result of these criminal actions by the former leader of Chkalovka community, council members, and several community administration employees, significant damage amounting to 20,508,000 AMD was caused to the rights and legal interests of the community, leading to severe consequences due to negligence. These funds were not directed towards addressing the actual needs of the community and its residents or the implementation of the development projects planned for the community.

Based on sufficient evidence, charges have been filed against the former community leader under Part 2 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code (abuse of official powers) and Part 2 of Article 314 (incitement to official forgery), while five council members were charged under Part 2 of Article 308 for assisting in the abuse of official powers. The preliminary investigation continues.