National Security Service Reveals Major Bribery Case in Education Sector

The Counterintelligence Department of the National Security Service of Armenia has uncovered another instance of particularly large-scale bribery in the education sector.

An employee of the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport’s Assessment and Testing Center, L.A., while being a co-author of the unified examination tests for the subject of 'Foreign Language' in the 2021 unified exams, was responsible for developing the tests for university admission for that subject. She was obliged to maintain the confidentiality of the contents of the unified examination tests and participate in the organization and conducting of the unified exams.

In an apparent abuse of her authority, on June 26, 2021, L.A. demanded a bribe of $3,000, equivalent to 1,498,140 Armenian Drams, from the mother of a candidate, A.H., in exchange for providing advance access to the tests she had developed, teaching the answers to the candidate, and ensuring a high score in the examination.

On July 1, 2021, around 3:00 PM, L.A. visited the office of the candidate's mother in Yerevan and personally received the bribe. She was subsequently apprehended by the employees of the National Security Service. During a personal search, the bribe money was found on her.

Within the framework of the criminal case initiated by the investigative department of the National Security Service, both the briber and the recipient, as well as the person who provided the bribe money, have been arrested. The official who received the bribe has been charged under part 4, clause 2 of Article 311 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. A court decision has applied pre-trial detention as a measure, while those who bribed and assisted in the bribery have been released with a signature after providing confessional statements.

Notice: The suspect or accused in a presumed crime is considered innocent until proven guilty according to the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia by a final decision of the court.