Drivers' Licenses Issued in Exchange for Bribes

The Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia has revealed numerous cases of officials from the "Road Police" of the Armenian police receiving significant bribes, exceeding 1 million AMD, from various citizens in the course of an ongoing multi-episode criminal case.

These citizens received drivers' licenses after participating in formal practical examinations that lacked legitimate substance, as reported by the Anti-Corruption Committee.

In particular, sufficient evidence obtained in the criminal case substantiates that Vachağan Shiroyan, a resident of Spitak, reached an agreement with Adam Sarukhanyan, an inspector from the Yerevan Registration and Examination Division of the Road Police, to facilitate the acceptance of formal practical examinations without actually verifying practical driving skills, in exchange for bribes. Between August 2020 and May 2021, Shiroyan received a total of 3,010,000 AMD from around forty individuals, part of which, amounting to 1,400,000 AMD, was paid as a bribe to Sarukhanyan.

With Shiroyan's assistance in receiving the bribes, the Road Police inspector accepted the formal practical examinations from the mentioned citizens, allowing them to obtain drivers' licenses without proper verification of their driving skills.

At the same time, Sarukhanyan, abusing his official powers, created false protocols regarding the proper completion of examinations for the persons who had paid bribes, resulting in these individuals receiving drivers' licenses in violation of established procedures.

Adam Sarukhanyan has been charged under Paragraph 2 of Part 4 of Article 311, Article 308, and Article 314 of the Criminal Code of Armenia for receiving large-scale bribes, abusing official powers, and falsifying official documents. Vachağan Shiroyan has been charged under Paragraph 2 of Part 4 of Article 311 and Parts 2 of Articles 34-38-311 of the Criminal Code.

Additionally, criminal proceedings have been initiated against 37 other individuals for bribery, mediation in bribery, attempted bribery, and for illegally obtaining an official document—in this case, a drivers' license. The preliminary investigation of the criminal case against Adam Sarukhanyan, Vachağan Shiroyan, and several other individuals has been completed. The case has been forwarded to the supervising prosecutor with a motion to approve and send it to court.