State Suffers 54 Million 550 Thousand Drams in Damages: Police Disclosure

Based on information received by the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the Police, facts have been established that the company "Tatevik" LLC acquired a wine storage cellar with an area of 738.7 square meters and a workshop building with an area of 130.5 square meters from the "Ararat" Cognac-Wine-Vodka Factory LLC in October 2002 for a total of 48 million drams, according to a sales contract. In January 2006, "Tatevik" gave written consent for the same LLC to acquire a 45601 square meter plot of community property for the factory, conditional on a later contract for a servitude for joint use.

Subsequently, the authorized individuals in charge of the management of the "Ararat" Cognac-Wine-Vodka Factory abused their powers, using their administrative authority to organize the demolition of the workshop building, which belonged to "Tatevik," and the construction of a complex building with a total area of 4545.9 square meters on that site without the owner’s knowledge or the relevant permissions and mortgage agreements since 2004, which was completed in 2009.

At the same time, the authorized officials of the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre abused their powers during these operations and failed to record the existence of the real estate belonging to "Tatevik" in the actual measurements conducted. They did not include the data in the property registration certificate for the "Ararat Cognac-Wine-Vodka Factory". Furthermore, relevant officials from the Yerevan Municipality also failed to document the fact of unauthorized construction of the industrial building, taking no action to halt the illegal construction in due time, demolish it, hold accountable the perpetrators, or legalize it as per the Government's decision dated May 18, 2006.

Instead, in August 2011, permission for construction was granted by the Mayor of Yerevan for a period of 20 months, despite the already constructed facility. Subsequently, a misleading act of commissioning the construction was composed with a different company falsely claimed as the developer just two months after the permit.

This act of commissioning was submitted to the relevant authorities for signing and approval, which resulted in the new building being registered in 2011 as property of the "Ararat Cognac-Wine-Vodka Factory" by the corresponding subdivision of the cadastre. As a result of these illegal actions, "Tatevik" incurred significant damages equivalent to the value of the destroyed workshop building, while the state suffered property damages amounting to 54 million 550 thousand drams for the legalization of the unauthorized structure.

A criminal case has been initiated in the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the Police regarding these incidents, and it has been forwarded to the investigative committee.