Former Director of Armavir Regional College Arrested for Embezzlement of 58 Million AMD

The National Security Service of Armenia's investigative department has obtained factual data during the preliminary investigation of a criminal case initiated and being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia. According to the findings, G.M., while serving as the director of the Armavir Regional State College from 2019 to 2021, embezzled approximately 58 million AMD and committed office forgery.

According to the evidence in the criminal case, on November 8, 2019, a contract was signed between the Armavir Regional State College and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports for the utilization of financial assistance provided by the state in the form of a grant. Under this agreement, the Ministry allocated 156,721,600 AMD to improve the building conditions of the college, specifically for the construction of vocational training facilities within the same year.

Within the framework of this contract, G. M. signed agreements on behalf of the college with a consortium of two construction companies and a technical control service provider that had been recognized as the winners in the competitions announced in January 2020. The value of the contract signed with this consortium amounted to 135 million AMD.

Subsequently, the leaders of these companies, D.K. and S.M., in preliminary agreement, forged the actual volumes of construction work performed by the contractor and included inflated fictitious data regarding the completed work. They prepared and signed six fraudulent execution acts with a total value of 103,076,170 AMD and presented them to G.M., even though only 58,440,909 AMD worth of work had actually been completed by the contractor.

Moreover, G.M., with the assistance of D.K., prepared six reports and acts containing false information in line with the dates on the execution acts. In one instance, without any execution act, he created a false report and act for the performance of works amounting to 12,210,600 AMD.

As a result, under the conditions of performing 58,440,909 AMD worth of construction work and services, G.M., with the assistance of representatives from the aforementioned companies, unlawfully paid the contractor 115,286,770 AMD, thereby misusing a particularly large sum of 56,845,861 AMD from the funds entrusted to him.

Preliminary data has also revealed that in 2019, G.M. hired S.H. at the college; however, the latter did not attend work or fulfill his employment duties. Being aware of this situation, G.M. issued false reports signed by himself, confirming S.H.'s supposed regular attendance and presented them for payment. Based on these documents, a total of 803,161 AMD was unjustly withdrawn from the funds allocated to the college in S.H.'s name, which G.M. embezzled.

G.M., D.K., and S.M. were arrested by the investigator of the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia on February 17, 2023. The preliminary investigation is ongoing.