High-Ranking Official in Police Washes Embezzled Large Sums of Money and Property

The Prosecutor's Office has made a new decision on March 15, 2023, to initiate criminal proceedings against A.H., who served in the Ministry of Defense from 1997 to 2011, and held the positions of Deputy Head of the 4th Division and Head of the 5th Division of the Main Directorate for the Fight Against Organized Crime in the Police from 2011 to 2018. This was reported by the Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia.

It has been substantiated in the criminal case investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee that A.H., being a high-ranking public official engaged in state service from 1994 to 2018, illegally participated in entrepreneurial activities against the law, as well as engaged in other corrupt activities. As a result, he hid and distorted the true nature of the property and funds obtained through criminal means to wash them and introduce them into legal civil circulation, giving them a legal appearance.

Specifically, between 2008 and 2010, A.H. acquired 100% of the shares in Urbanism-Petrol LLC and, legally registering it in the name of his wife, who had previously never engaged in business in any field, and his then-minor 9-year-old son, factually participated in the management of the company. In view of this activity, as well as in unclarified circumstances of the criminal proceedings regarding other alleged illegal activities (there is a clear discrepancy between the legal income and property condition of A.H. and his family members), A.H. purchased real estate valued at 75 million drams in the 2nd industrial district of Abovyan, Kotayk Province, in 2011 (registered in his wife's name), real estate on Amiryan Street in Yerevan for 120 million drams in 2012 (registered in his wife's name), real estate on Republic Avenue in Yerevan for 204 million 250 thousand drams in 2013 (registered in his and his wife's name), and in 2014, acquired 100% of the shares in OVSAS LLC (a company with a registered area of 207.9 square meters on Moscow Street in Yerevan, registered in his daughter’s name) for 144 million 375 thousand drams.

A.H., realizing that the properties registered in his and his wife's name exceeded the legal income significantly, decided in 2014 to hide the rights to the illegally obtained properties and their true ownership by transferring them through formal donation and sale contracts to acquaintances.

The pre-investigation data has substantiated that A.H. laundered particularly large sums of money — 351 million 497 thousand 422 drams and property valued at 75 million drams obtained through criminal means. Additionally, A.H., who effectively performed the duties of the head of the security service of former Police Chief V.G., reportedly laundered property purchased with particularly large sums obtained through criminal means together with V.G. during 2013-2014, hiding and distorting the source of origin, rights, and ownership of that property.

V.G., who held several positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1982 to 2018, reportedly possessed, used, and managed particularly large sums of money resulting from crimes he committed between 2000 and 2018. As a high-ranking official required to submit a declaration, to avoid attracting the attention of law enforcement when registering expensive property in his name, V.G. requested A.H. in 2013 to acquire vehicles from Avangard Motors LLC and register them in his name to aid in hiding part of the origin of the illegally obtained property.

Based on this request, on September 1, 2013, A.H. purchased a Mercedes-Benz G 500 from Avangard Motors LLC using 71 million 556 thousand drams allocated by V.G., and on January 10, 2014, he acquired a Mercedes-Benz S 500L from the same company using 80 million 200 thousand drams provided by V.G., both registered in his name.

The pre-investigation data has also substantiated that A.H. concealed and distorted the value of property worth a total of 151 million 756 thousand drams obtained through V.G.'s criminal activities. Moreover, A.H. intentionally concealed the amount of a 100 thousand US dollar loan obtained from one of the banks in the annual declaration submitted to the Ethics Committee of High-Ranking Officials of Armenia on March 22, 2018, resulting in the failure to declare the property of particularly large value.

Based on the above, according to the supervisory prosecutor's decision, new criminal proceedings against A.H. were initiated under Article 190, Part 3, Item 1 (2 episodes of money laundering) and Article 314.3, Part 2 (concealing data subject to declaration) of the Criminal Code of Armenia adopted on April 18, 2003. The investigator, upon assessing the evidence collected during the pre-trial proceedings, concluded that there was a high likelihood of conviction by the competent court for the charges against him and reported the completion of the preliminary investigation. It should be noted that on December 23, 2022, the Court of Cassation of Armenia accepted the cassation appeal brought by the Prosecutor General and recognized the alternative measure taken against A.H. as insufficient, leading to his detention, where he remains incarcerated.