Former Abovyan Mayor and Ex-official of State Committee on Property Cadastre Caused Approximately 295 Million Dram Damage to the State

During the pre-investigation of a criminal case initiated by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia, sufficient evidence has been obtained indicating that in 2014, Deranik Gevorgyan, who held the position of head of the Kotayk regional subdivision of the State Committee on Property Cadastre of Armenia, and Karapet Guloyan, the mayor of Abovyan, unlawfully altered the purpose of a 10.05-hectare land plot belonging to the Abovyan community worth 295,470,000 AMD through deliberate actions that bypassed the necessary procedures, and it was illegally sold at a formal auction for only 712,400 AMD.

According to the accusation, the aforementioned land plot was transferred to the Abovyan community by a government decision as land designated for residential purposes, with a cadastral value of 29,400,000 AMD per hectare in 2014. During that period, Deranik Gevorgyan, as the head of the Kotayk regional subdivision of the State Committee on Property Cadastre of Armenia, ordered a change in the designated purpose of the land from “residential” to “agricultural” without following the necessary procedures for registering rights to the land and changing its designated purpose, as well as in the absence of a positive conclusion.

This means that Gevorgyan carried out actions that evidently exceeded his authority. Subsequently, at the suggestion of Abovyan Mayor Karapet Guloyan, a decision was made by the Abovyan city community to sell the aforementioned land plot through an auction. The starting price of the auction was calculated based on the cadastral value set for agricultural land at 67,500 AMD per hectare, instead of 29,400,000 AMD.

To ensure participation from more than one bidder in the auction, a fake application was prepared using the details of a second participant, and formal payments were made for participation. Following this, Guloyan, driven by personal interest in declaring a preferred participant as the winner of the auction, used his official powers against the interests of the community to formalize a fake application for the second participant while deeming the auction valid based on the actual participation of only one participant, thus confirming the corresponding protocol.

As a result, on July 21, 2014, the aforementioned land plot, with a cadastral value of 295,470,000 AMD, was sold for only 712,400 AMD to a company declared the winner in a nominal auction. The actions taken led to significant harm to the legal interests of the state and the Abovyan community, including an unwarranted alteration of the land use scheme and balance for the Abovyan community, whereas the actual high-value land plot, due to the unlawful change of its designated purpose, was effectively sold as agricultural land through a nominal auction with a single participant, causing property damage totaling 294,757,600 AMD.

Deranik Gevorgyan has been arrested and charged under part 3 of Article 309 of the RA Criminal Code. Karapet Guloyan has been involved as a defendant under part 2 of Article 308 of the RA Criminal Code. The property damage caused by the crime, amounting to 294,757,600 AMD, has been fully transferred by the defendants to the deposit account of the Special Investigative Service of Armenia on June 16, 2020. The pre-investigation is ongoing.