Former MP and his son concealed large assets. Case sent to court

According to the Armenian General Prosecutor's Office, on February 12, 2020, a criminal case was initiated based on an article published by Hetq.am titled "The Homes of Wealthy Armenians and Officials in Dubai's Luxury Complexes." The case was based on allegations of concealing particularly large assets that should have been declared in the tax filings by a public official and members of his family.

The criminal case was sent to the Special Investigation Service of Armenia (SIS) according to jurisdiction, where it was established through sufficient evidence gathered during the preliminary investigation that H. D., who served as a member of the National Assembly from June 20, 2018, to January 14, 2019, had concealed information regarding several real estate properties in his declarations submitted to the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials. Specifically, he failed to mention properties existing both on the day he assumed office and on the day he left his duties.

Among the undeclared properties are a jointly owned apartment with a cadastral value of 7.1 million AMD in Vagharshapat, Armenian Province, a 1.92-hectare agricultural land plot in Ayhtap belonging to him, a partially constructed house in Vagharshapat worth over 38 million AMD, and several plots of land acquired at different values.

Additionally, H. D. did not declare approximately 1.9 million AMD in two bank accounts in his name on the day he left office.

The evidence collected during the investigation also proved that his son, A. D., who was a connected person to the public official and had obligations to declare his assets and income, also concealed property during the same reporting period. Notably, he failed to report an acquisition of a land plot in Vagharshapat and the sale of a BMW X6 on his declarations.

The failure to declare these properties and financial assets has resulted in allegations of concealing particularly large assets exceeding a threshold established by law.

Charges were filed against H. D. and A. D. under Article 314.3, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, with restrictions imposed on them to prevent them from leaving. On April 16, 2021, the ruling body decided to separate their case from the larger investigation, concluding the preliminary investigation. On April 28, 2021, the prosecutor overseeing the legality of the pre-trial proceedings confirmed the indictment and forwarded the case to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan for substantive examination.