Scandal: Razmik Petrosyan Appointed Governor of Aragatsotn with Fake Diploma

Razmik Petrosyan, the governor of Aragatsotn, has reportedly been appointed to this position in gross violation of RA legislation. This is reported by yerevan.today.

According to Article 6 of the RA Law on Public Service, "Administrative positions may be held by citizens of the Republic of Armenia who possess higher education." The positions of governor and his deputies are considered administrative positions.

We investigated what education Razmik Petrosyan, appointed as Aragatsotn’s governor on October 28, 2021, has. In his biography, it is stated that he is an economist and has a higher military education.

However, his biography does not specify which university he earned his degree in economics from. Yerevan.Today inquired with the Aragatsotn regional administration about where he received his higher education, the years of attendance, his graduation date, and his area of specialization. We also requested a copy of the diploma.

We received a response from the regional administration stating, "Governor of Aragatsotn R. Petrosyan graduated from Hovnanyan University on May 25, 2002, with a degree in finance and credit, qualifying as an economist."

Finding no information about this university in any searches on Google, we sent an inquiry to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports (MoESCS) of RA to understand whether Hovnanyan University had a license in Armenia, for which specializations it was licensed, when it opened and closed, and whether the diploma granted by that university is considered a state-standard document and the education received a higher education.

The response from MoESCS confirmed our suspicions that Aragatsotn governor's diploma is fake. According to the response from the MoESCS, "Hovnanyan University (Rector: Mihdrat Gevorgyan) operated in Aparan, at 4 Garegin Nzhdeh Street. The Ministry of Education of RA issued a permit on 11.13.1996 under No. 108, for a duration of five years, for the following specializations: 1. Finance and Credit, 2. Pedagogy and Methodology of Primary Education. Later, in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, Hovnanyan University did not apply for licensing again, and therefore could not submit an application for state accreditation in the absence of a license. Thus, the document issued by Hovnanyan University between 1996-2000 is considered a document from a private, licensed, and unaccredited educational institution.

Although everything is clear, let us reiterate that Hovnanyan University was allowed to operate from 1996 to 2001; after 2001, it had no license and thus no accreditation, but it granted a diploma to Razmik Petrosyan in 2002.

Moreover, the MoESCS stated, "For RA public bodies and state organizations, a higher education document is the final document issued by a state or accredited non-state higher educational institution." This means that even if the diploma issued by Hovnanyan University were not fake, it would not be considered as higher education, since that university was non-accredited from the outset.

It turns out that Razmik Petrosyan was appointed to a position proposed by the Prime Minister and decided by the RA government, a position he was not legally entitled to hold due to lacking a valid diploma.

This is not the first case in Razmik Petrosyan's biography; he has been switching positions with a fake diploma. It is noteworthy that before being appointed governor, he served as the deputy governor, for which a higher education diploma is also mandatory according to the legislation.

This means that someone who receives a considerably high salary from the RA budget, signs orders, makes decisions, participates in government meetings, and holds access to certain state secrets does not have the legal right to do so according to RA legislation.

We appeal to the RA Prosecutor General's Office to take action based on this publication and provide a legal assessment of the actions of the governor without a diploma. We cannot say what process will be initiated by the actual responsible party, the RA government, but with this publication, we also appeal to the Government, which must immediately relieve this diploma-less governor from duty and prevent further damage to the state budget, otherwise it will seem that the appointment was done with criminal collusion.

Note: On April 5, 2019, Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page that he does not want to give the impression of being a masochist but informs that a criminal case has been initiated under his direct instruction regarding the alleged abuse committed by a close relative of his. "There is no doubt that the case will be fully examined and the perpetrators will be held accountable under the law: This is a new Armenia, and no relative of the prime minister can stand above the law or be privileged."

Nikol Pashinyan's relative, Mamikon Hovhannisyan, according to the criminal case initiated under part 1 of Article 325 of the RA Criminal Code, being an engineer at the RA Ministry of Environment's “Dilijan” National Park, in February 2019, presented a diploma copy stating that he graduated from the Armenian Agricultural Institute in 1993 with a specialization in "Agricultural Mechanization" and obtained the qualification of engineer-mechanic, leading to his appointment as deputy director of the same organization. There were allegations regarding the apparent falsification of the diploma. The Prime Minister stated that everyone is equal before the law and that he would start with himself. Subsequently, the case was dismissed.