Current Assistant of Chief of Staff Bought Defense Ministry Land for 25 Million Dram, Sold for 420 Million Dram; Buyer is Son of MP Ishkhan Zakaryan's Friend

A 20-story apartment building is planned to be constructed in the Nor Nork administrative district of Yerevan. The land allocated for this project was given to the Ministry of Defense years ago, as reported by Hetq.am.

Hetq has discovered that the land plot was purchased from the Ministry of Defense for 25 million dram (approximately $62,500) by Pohos Pohosyan, the former head of the Arms Department of the General Staff and currently the assistant to the Chief of Staff. Immediately after the war, he donated the land to his mother-in-law. In September of this year, during Azerbaijan's attack on Armenia, the same land was sold for 420 million dram (approximately $1,040,000) to a friend of MP Ishkhan Zakaryan's son.

The story of the privatization of this 5420 square meter land plot began in 2020, before the war. Following our inquiries, a criminal case was initiated by the Anti-Corruption Committee. It turns out that the last transfer of the land occurred during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, with the silent consent of the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Adjacent to the bridge connecting the 4th and 5th districts of Nor Nork, the Ministry of Defense had a land plot of 1.6 hectares (16247 square meters). This was transferred to the Ministry during Vazgen Sargsyan’s time in office. At that time, it was planned that a sports complex would be built on the land for the military academy. Years later, in 2013, 0.54 hectares were separated and sold.

According to data obtained from the Cadastre Committee, the 5420 square meter land was sold to Pohos Pohosyan in 2013 by the Ministry of Defense. The ministry stated that the sale price was 25 million 215 thousand 556 dram. However, the ministry refused to provide the basis for the land transfer, justifying that all documents, except for the contract, were destroyed as the retention period had expired.

At the time of the land purchase, Pohos Pohosyan was serving as the commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the Armenian Ministry of Defense. Three years after acquiring the land, in 2016, Pohosyan was appointed head of the Arms Department of the General Staff.

In September 2020, when Azerbaijan was planning a large-scale attack on Artsakh, Pohos Pohosyan decided to sell the land. This was revealed through a