Charges Filed Against Bodyguard Chief of Vladimir Gasparyan

During the investigation of a criminal case related to the concealment of large-scale property and income declaration data, sufficient evidence has been obtained by the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, which substantiates that Arshak Hakobyan (formerly the chief of the bodyguard of former police chief Vladimir Gasparyan), as of July 1, 2017, held the position of head of the relevant department of the Armenian police and, being a declarer public official, deliberately concealed declaration-subject data in the declarations submitted to the High-Ranking Officials Ethics Commission. This resulted in the non-declaration of particularly large-scale property and the legalization of criminally obtained particularly large-scale property amounting to 22,007,259 AMD.

The Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia reports that according to the presented charges, Arshak Hakobyan deliberately concealed property worth over 7 million AMD, with a cadastral value of a house, in the declarations submitted for assuming office in 2017, and in the annual declarations of the same year, as well as in the declaration submitted for termination of his office in 2018.

Additionally, the aforementioned official of the Armenian police deliberately did not declare two vehicles acquired through a donation agreement in 2017, along with the corresponding contract of donation: a 2017 model 'Mersedes-Benz GLS 500 4matik' valued at 43,069,500 AMD equivalent to 90,000 USD and a 2008 'Samand Soren 1.8'.

Specifically, the investigation has obtained evidence that Arshak Hakobyan purchased the 'Mersedes-Benz GLS 500 4matik' vehicle with cash and then, with the intent to conceal the real nature and criminal origin of the funds paid, formalized the cash transaction as a donation, thereby effectively hiding and distorting the actual origin of his unlawfully obtained particularly large-scale cash amounting to 22,007,259 AMD.

On November 29, 2021, Arshak Hakobyan was arrested by an investigator of the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia. On the same day, he was charged under Part 2 of Article 314.3 of the Armenian Criminal Code for deliberately concealing particularly large-scale property subject to declaration and under Point 1 and 3 of Part 3 of Article 190 of the Armenian Criminal Code for the legalization of particularly large-scale property obtained through criminal means.

A motion has been filed by the investigator of the Anti-Corruption Committee to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan to select detention as a measure of restraint for A. Hakobyan. The investigation of the criminal case continues.