Charges Filed Against Robert Nazaryan and Two Former Members of the Public Services Regulatory Commission; Nazaryan's Former Deputy Arrested

The Special Investigative Service of Armenia has announced that charges have been filed against Robert Nazaryan, the former president of the Public Services Regulatory Commission, and two former members, Shiraz Kirakosyan and Musheg Koshikyan, who were both arrested on August 6, 2020. They are accused under Article 308, Part 2 of the Armenian Criminal Code for engaging in acts that pose a public danger. The charges claim that they abused their official powers in 2011 due to personal interests in granting advantages to a specific economic entity, which resulted in serious consequences.

Additionally, Nikolay Grigoryan, the former deputy chairman of the commission, was arrested the day before under suspicion of committing the same offense as outlined under the same article of the Armenian Criminal Code.

The investigator from the Special Investigative Service has submitted a motion to the Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan requesting the imposition of custody as a preventive measure for R. Nazaryan, S. Kirakosyan, and M. Koshikyan.

As previously reported, during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, sufficient evidence was obtained indicating that due to the actions of Robert Nazaryan and the aforementioned members of the commission, tariffs set for the sale of electricity produced and supplied by Zoraget Hydro LLC between 2012 and 2019 exceeded the established rates, causing an extra revenue of 7,052,065,099 AMD to be received from physical and legal entities consuming electricity in Armenia.

The investigation into the criminal case is ongoing.