Around Forty Searches Conducted: NSS Issues Second Statement Regarding the Case Involving Tsarukyan

The National Security Service (NSS) has issued a second statement today regarding another case involving the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan.

“As a result of extensive investigative and other procedural actions carried out by the NSS, as well as effective operational-intelligence measures, it has been possible to uncover numerous instances of bribery committed by a group of members of the Prosperous Armenia Party, in preliminary agreement, during the parliamentary elections held on April 2, 2017. These instances involved bribing voters to vote for the candidates or for the Prosperous Armenia Party, either personally or through intermediaries. Members of both the party leadership and ordinary members were involved,” the statement said.

It has been revealed that during the pre-election period, under the organization of party leadership, active involvement of party members, and a clear distribution of roles, hundreds of millions of drams were given as electoral bribes to voters in favor of party candidates. Approximately forty searches related to the investigation have been conducted, during which documents containing detailed records created through computer or handwritten methods regarding the flow of financial resources during the elections have been seized. These documents pertain to the amount of money given to voters and activists, compensation for students' tuition fees under the guise of charity, analysis of votes received in exchange for distributed funds, and other factual data significant to the criminal case, providing reasonable grounds to assert that these were primarily aimed at holding the party leadership accountable.

It is particularly noteworthy that, according to the survey, a specific group of individuals was pre-determined to request assistance under the guise of randomness during gatherings. The preliminary investigation continues, with active efforts being made to clarify the exact circle of individuals involved in the bribery process, to individualize each person’s actions, and to provide a corresponding legal assessment of the acts.