Theft of Around 102 Million Drams from Civil Aviation: Details

The director of the company "AQUILA TECHNICS" registered in the Republic of Armenia, K.A., signed a contract with the Civil Aviation Committee of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) on December 28, 2018, obligating to ensure the flight worthiness maintenance and technical servicing of aircraft N.

As reported by the public relations department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia, within the framework of the criminal proceedings initiated by the Investigative Committee’s Main Department of Particularly Important Cases, it was established that in May 2021, K.A., being informed about the need to replace the aircraft's "THS Actuator" spare part due to corrosion and aware that the part could be acquired from the English company "Avtrade limited" for 200 thousand USD, submitted a proposal to the Committee on May 7, 2021, to purchase a used version of the specified spare part from the non-existent Cypriot company "Brightcom Aviation Ltd" for 310 thousand USD.

Subsequently, in order to gain a greater profit, K.A., exploiting the trust of the Committee’s leadership, deceitfully informed on May 17, 2021, through another fraudulent document that the aforementioned used spare part had been sold, proposing to acquire the same spare part from the same company at a higher price of 370 thousand USD.

As a result, instead of purchasing the spare part from "Avtrade limited" for 200 thousand USD, K.A. presented to the Committee a presumably forged invoice for the acquisition of that spare part from the then non-existent "Brightcom Aviation Ltd" on November 25, 2021. Consequently, the Committee transferred 370 thousand USD to K.A.'s company, out of which K.A. fraudulently appropriated around 84 million drams equivalent to particularly large sums of 170 thousand USD, by abusing his official position.

The supervising prosecutor has issued an instruction to the investigator, and in fulfillment of the requirements, several procedural actions have been carried out. As a result of the above actions, it has been established that the state incurred a damage of 102 million 350 thousand 371 drams due to the alleged crime. On December 23, 2022, the specified amount was fully transferred to the deposit account of the Investigative Committee.

On February 9, 2023, the materials of the criminal case were received again at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia for verification, which revealed that to conceal the committed act, hide traces of the crime, and legalize the offense, K.A. established a company named "BRIGHTCOM LIMITED" at the address indicated in the forged invoice submitted to the Committee (Gastras, 4 Athienou, 7600, Cyprus) on June 8, 2021.

Based on the examination of the materials of the criminal case, on February 13, 2023, the supervising prosecutor independently decided to initiate public criminal proceedings against K.A., under the point 1 of part 3 of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (theft of another's property in particularly large amounts through fraud) and part 1 of Article 325 (forging and using of a legally significant document). On the same day, the materials of the criminal case and the decision to initiate public criminal proceedings against K.A. were sent to the conducting investigator, to discuss the issue of bringing charges against K.A. and applying an appropriate measure of restraint against him.

Note: The accused of the crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the court in accordance with the legal procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code, with a legally binding court verdict.