Corruption Violations in Excavations of the Tombs of Armenian Kings in Aghdzq

The Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia has investigated the process of spending state funds allocated for excavations at the "Tombs of the Armenian Kings in Aghdzq and the surrounding area" based on documents received from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport. Other related documents were also requested and received from the State Service for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments.

It was revealed that for the purpose of conducting excavations at the tombs, a subsidy of 15 million AMD was allocated to the "Scientific Research Center of Cultural Heritage" state agency by the Ministry of Culture on January 30, 2018. Almost simultaneously, the relevant committee from the Ministry of Education and Science granted an additional 12 million AMD as a grant under a corresponding contract.

Based on these funds, the director of the agency set monthly salaries for six individuals in the framework of the "Research of the Tomb of Armenian Kings" program for the months of April to June of the same year and sent three of them to the Aragatsotn region for archaeological excavations and research at the site. They were provided with a rented vehicle, for which the agency paid 16,700 AMD per day and also supplied 15 liters of gasoline.

It was found that despite the inter-agency archaeological commission giving a positive conclusion to the scientific report submitted by the agency on May 29, 2018, the agency only submitted a request to the Agency for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments for permission to conduct investigations and excavations in the memorial complex in June 2018. Consequently, permission was granted on June 15, 2018. Furthermore, according to the existing documents, no excavations took place at the Aghdzq monument during May and June.

Thus, responsible officials of the agency, disregarding the lack of permission for excavations in the "Tombs of the Armenian Kings in Aghdzq" from April to June 2018 and the fact that no actual excavations were conducted during that period, allegedly forged and issued documents that did not reflect reality, misappropriating about 9 million AMD from state funds allocated to the agency through additional payments, expense claims, rental of vehicles, gasoline, and paying salaries to workers.

The investigation revealed that payments made for night allowances and daily allowances for the mentioned employees were executed without supporting documents. Moreover, the provision of 15 liters of gasoline per day for the rented vehicle indicates that employees returned to their main place of work on the same day, thereby negating their entitlement to night allowances and daily allowances.

Additionally, an internal audit conducted by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport revealed that from 2015 to 2018, a total of 11.6 million AMD allocated from the state budget for excavations at "Aghdzq" was redirected from budget lines designated for "other professional services, other services, and the acquisition of goods" to cover travel expenses and vehicle rentals. Furthermore, the internal audit deemed the effectiveness of the excavation process problematic due to the absence of relevant specialists in the working group.

In other words, responsible officials from the ministry and committee, ignoring discrepancies between the actual expenditures of the funds allocated for excavations and the budget, redirected 11.6 million AMD meant for important professional services for excavations to transport and travel expenses for the expedition members, despite financial resources already being allocated for this purpose. Additionally, despite the absence of qualified specialists, the work conducted by the agency was accepted as duly performed obligations, thus causing equal damage to the state.

Based on the data obtained during the investigation, which contained signs of apparent criminal acts, a criminal case has been initiated in the Office of the Prosecutor General under part 3, clause 1 of Article 179, part 2 of Article 308, and part 1 of Article 314 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The investigation has been tasked to the Investigative Committee of Armenia.