Video: Justice Major Requested $20,000 Bribe for Early Release of Convict, NSS Reports

The National Security Service of Armenia has revealed a case of bribery involving a state official, as part of its ongoing efforts to combat corruption, actively cooperating with the Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice.

The NSS reports that through various and tactically coordinated extensive operational and intelligence measures undertaken by its Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department, it was discovered that A.G., a Justice Major serving as the assistant to the responsible duty officer at the ‘Vanadzor’ penitentiary institution of the Ministry of Justice, demanded a particularly large bribe amounting to $20,000, equivalent to 9,500,000 Armenian drams, from convict T.E. in order to organize the process for his conditional early release.

Of this amount, $10,000 was transferred on April 21 of this year under the operational control of NSS employees to an individual identified by A.G. as A.R. Immediately after, both A.R. and A.G. were detained by the NSS.

During the operational intelligence operation simulating bribery, the bribe amount of $10,000, which constituted the object of the bribe and was subject to special chemical processing, was discovered and seized from A.R.

Materials prepared by the NSS regarding the incident have been referred to the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, where a criminal case has been initiated under relevant articles of the Criminal Code of Armenia, leading to the arrest of A.G. and A.R.