Major Abuses at Masis Medical Center: Charges Filed Against Six Individuals

The investigation by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia into the case of abuses detected at "Masis Medical Center" LLC has concluded. The investigative committee reported this information. As a result of the extensive investigation carried out in the criminal case, charges have been filed against six individuals, including the former director of the medical center.

During the pre-trial process, significant investigative and procedural actions were conducted, revealing the mechanism of the abuses, the entire circle of individuals involved, and the extent of property damage caused to the state and the medical center.

The investigative findings indicate that the former director of "Masis Medical Center," while holding the aforementioned position from 2017 to 2018, acted with a unified criminal intent, with the assistance of the center's employees, committed official forgery, abused his official powers, and misappropriated large and especially large sums from the center's financial resources. He also engaged citizens in his illegal activities.

For instance, being aware that his friend worked full-time as an accountant at another medical center, the former director sought to include her in a trusted capacity within his organization and decided to hire her as a part-time accountant at his center, offering a more attractive salary of 99,800 AMD net instead of the established 60,600 AMD. Upon receiving her consent, he used his official position against the interests of the service to employ her.

According to the investigation data, she received a salary exceeding three hundred times the minimum wage, totaling 588,000 AMD, causing significant damage to the state. Furthermore, the former director received various amounts from two individual entrepreneurs operating automatic coffee machines without signing appropriate contracts with them and, instead of depositing these amounts into the company budget, misappropriated a total of 525,000 AMD for personal use.

Additionally, the former director colluded with the center's driver to embezzle large sums of money from the center's financial resources. In particular, the driver, in accordance with a prearranged agreement with the former director, only reported cash amounts collected from 377 out of 917 corpses transferred to the medical center, while the remaining sum of 1,350,000 AMD, which was not recorded in the cash register, was embezzled by the former director and the driver.

The investigation further revealed that during this time, the former director, in collaboration with the head accountant, transferred various amounts of money to various organizations for receiving American doctors, attending the “Best Armenian Woman” event, and for purchasing significantly overpriced non-medical supplies for the hospital, thereby misappropriating a significant amount of 1,831,600 AMD.

Subsequently, in a group with the chief accountant, cashier, HR inspector, and three other individuals, the former director illegally hired these three individuals by creating and signing fake hiring orders and formal employment contracts. However, these individuals never attended work, did not fulfill their contractual obligations, yet the former director signed and stamped payroll documents containing obviously false information based on which the chief accountant, also aware of their non-attendance, calculated and paid out a total of 973,108 AMD in salaries, which was embezzled by the former director.

In addition to these events, the former director, utilizing his official position, illegally instructed the accountant to provide supplies for the conclusion of civil contracts for fake agreements to be made for certain work at the medical center. The accountant, following the director's instructions, created fake contracts with false information about various types of construction, manual labor, and agricultural work purportedly done by various individuals on the hospital's premises.

The fabricated contracts were submitted to the former director, who confirmed them with his signature and seal. Yet, the individuals mentioned never visited the medical center, signed no documents, and completed no work; thus, through his signature and seal, the former director certified payments to these individuals for non-existent work, embezzling a total of 2,173,035 AMD.

The former director also signed an order regarding end-of-year monetary bonuses for the hospital staff, but personally received 200,000 AMD from the cashier, refusing to distribute it to the employees, thus embezzling that amount.

The investigation revealed that during the stipulated period, the former director, aided by the manager and chief accountant, created contracts containing false data regarding the repair of an ambulance, air conditioners, and laboratory electrical cables, which led to the embezzlement of a significant total of 4,316,259 AMD from the medical center’s financial resources.

Amid these circumstances, the former director also ordered the designated manager to carry out fuel distribution operations for the medical center. Operating with the intent of embezzling property entrusted to him, from May 2017 to May 2018, the manager forged official documents concerning fuel withdrawal, falsely signing documents as if he received 1,057 liters of fuel worth 449,225 AMD, and subsequently embezzled that amount.

Recognizing the financial difficulties of the organization and its unpaid substantial financial obligations, the former director decided to conduct an audit of the financial reports. Without announcing a competition, he reached an agreement with the head of an affiliated audit company, signing a contract for conducting financial reports audits at a high cost of 4,320,000 AMD, whereas the average market cost for such service at that time could have been only 1,725,000 AMD.

Under the former director's instructions, the chief accountant transferred 2,000,000 AMD, a partial payment of the said contract, to the company's account, while the remaining 2,320,000 AMD was to be paid after receiving the audit report. However, the former director did not complete the crime, as he was dismissed from the position.

Based on sufficient evidence, the former director of "Masis Medical Center" was charged under Article 308, Part 1 (2 episodes) (abuse of official powers), Article 179, Part 2, Points 1, 2, 3 (3 episodes) (embezzlement or waste in large amounts), Article 179, Part 3, Point 1 (embezzlement in large amounts), Article 314, Part 1 (official forgery), and Article 34-179, Part 3, Point 1 (embezzlement in especially large amounts). Charges have been filed against 5 individuals under various articles of the Criminal Code, and criminal prosecution against another 5 individuals has been terminated based on Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Code (due to lack of complicity).

The investigation revealed that the amount of damage caused to the state amounted to 13,380,084 AMD, part of which has been recovered during the pre-trial process. The investigation has been completed, and the criminal case has been sent to the prosecutor exercising procedural control with a motion to confirm the indictment and forward it to the court.