Video: Gndevaz Community Head Sold 10 Hectares for $850 to Minor Son, Environmentalist Claims

Levon Galstyan, a member of the 'Armenian Environmental Front' initiative, discussed the sale of land in Amulsar and issues of corruption during a Facebook live broadcast.

“These episodes were uncovered not by law enforcement, but by concerned citizens. Since 2012-13, it was clear that plots in Gndevaz, located on the slopes of Amulsar, had to be purchased, and the company that wished to exploit the mine would carry out the purchase. It is known that in such cases, influential local figures and representatives of local self-governance aim to profit from the transactions. When we tried to clarify how these agreements took place two years ago, we found that some of the archives of the Gndevaz community were missing; we were unable to find those archives either in the enlarged community of Jermuk or in the archive of Vayots Dzor. This raised suspicion, and we appealed to law enforcement officials, as it was not possible to clarify how the land plots were sold and how auctions were conducted, especially since there were suspicions of corrupt transactions.

In any case, after 2-3 applications, the Investigative Committee examined the case, and it became known that in 2012-13 a company named 'Geotim' wanted to buy the land plots, and the community head devised ways to profit from these transactions. In the spring of 2014, he sold a 10-hectare area for $850 to his minor son. A year later, in the spring of 2015, that area was sold to 'Lydian Armenia' for $350,000. The case is now in court,” Galstyan said.

According to environmentalist sources, the community head has expressed a willingness to transfer about half of the transaction amount to the community, and it is likely that the case will be closed as a result.