First Hearing Date Set for Gagik Khachatryan and His Nephew's Case

The first court hearing in the case of Gagik Khachatryan, the former head of the State Revenue Committee and former Minister of Finance, and his nephew Karen Khachatryan has been scheduled for August 25 at 12:00 PM. This was announced on the official website of the Judicial Information System.

The criminal case has been assigned to Judge Arthur Mkrtchyan. According to the indictment, from April 15 to June 4, 2008, Gagik Khachatryan served as the acting head of the State Revenue Committee under the Government of Armenia and then from June 4 to August 20, 2008, he was the head of that committee. Additionally, from August 20, 2008, to April 26, 2014, he was the head of the State Revenue Committee, and then served as the Minister of Finance from April 26, 2014, to September 8, 2016. During this time, he consistently exercised the functions of a representative of the authority and, while being a senior official of the executive power, was personally motivated to provide material benefits to his relatives by improperly using his official position against the interests of the service.

It is alleged that he involved other officials, including his deputy Tigran Tareli Barseghyan, in violations of the provisions of a contract concluded by the State Revenue Committee and Armenian legislation, resulting in a significant loss of funds from the state budget.

Due to these actions, the normal functioning of public bodies was disrupted, the process of selling pledged property against state liabilities was compromised, and unequal conditions were created for potential other participants in the sale process. Consequently, the state incurred a material loss of 34,328,964 AMD, and the organization suffered a financial loss of 2,624,000,000 AMD, resulting in severe consequences.

According to the indictment, Karen Khachatryan held various positions including the head of the special department of the State Revenue Committee from July 1, 2008, to March 12, 2014, as well as the head of the internal security department of the State Revenue Committee. He was also charged with failing to ensure the recording of disciplinary violations and the application of relevant measures against officers under his command who had failed to fulfill their duties.

Both Gagik Khachatryan and his nephew Karen Khachatryan are currently under arrest.