The Park Owned by Yerevan Privatized and Then Divided into Two Parts

The Yerevan Prosecutor's Office has investigated the cadastre files of two land plots located at 22 Yeghvard Highway and 64 Anastas Mikoyan Street in the Davtashen district as part of a lawsuit to protect public interests.

The investigation revealed that these lands were originally a single entity. On January 17, 2003, a 6.06-hectare park located across from Davtashen 4th district was put up for auction for leasing purposes, with E.G. declared the winner.

Subsequently, on February 3, 2003, by the decision of the Yerevan Mayor, the same land plot was leased for 25 years at an annual rent of 20,090 AMD for the purpose of organizing a recreation and leisure area. Additionally, the starting price for the right of preference in the auction was set at 60,600 USD equivalent in AMD, which the bidder paid to the municipality's account.

The winner of the competition was assigned obligations, including an investment of 300 million AMD in the area, the completion of construction by 2006, and the payment of a one-time rent for three months. However, one month after signing the transaction, on March 28, 2003, without fulfilling the aforementioned obligations and conditions of the signed lease agreement, the park area was transferred to E.G.

On April 4, a direct sale agreement was signed between the municipality and E.G., in which the 6.06-hectare land plot was sold for 20,883,972 AMD, with the intended use defined as the construction of a recreation and leisure area.

On March 2, 2004, a lease agreement was signed between a representative of E.G. and the Saniland Joint Venture LLC (35% of the shares belonged to the same E.G.) granting the company the area for creating an entertainment and leisure area. On May 2, 2006, an agreement to terminate the lease was reached between the parties.

Subsequently, based on E.G.'s request, the property was divided into plots measuring 3.5023 hectares and 2.5577 hectares. After that, on May 15, 2006, E.G. provided a 3.0523-hectare plot free of charge for 20 years to the Saniland Joint Venture LLC (an agreement for gratuitous use of real estate was signed).

On December 4, 2007, a sales contract with an advance payment was signed between E.G. and the Moscow Investment Construction Company in Yerevan, where E.G. sold the 2.5577-hectare part of the land at a significantly inflated price of 697,727,272 AMD, compared to its acquisition cost, and on December 6, 2007, the contract's relevant clause was amended to set the sales price at 767,500,000 AMD by mutual agreement.

On March 20, 2019, a real estate sale and mortgage agreement was signed between E.G. (as seller) and the N and S Construction LLC (as buyer), which transferred the land plot located at 22 Yeghvard Highway, measuring 1.5023 hectares, and the Davtashen Yerevan-Yeghvard Highway 22 plot, measuring 2 hectares. The price of the first plot was set at 887,722,000 AMD, while the second was set at 1,295,424,000 AMD.

During inspections conducted by the Yerevan Prosecutor's Office, the urban planning documents in effect at the time of expropriation were examined. It was found that the aforementioned land plots were public green spaces (according to Article 60 of the RA Land Code: "It is prohibited to transfer to citizens and legal entities under private ownership those plots of land belonging to state and community property that (...) are public use lands in settlements (squares, streets, roads, riverfronts, parks, green areas, beaches, and other communal areas) ..."). Accordingly, the actions resulted in an estimated 2,929,762,028 AMD in property damage to the state.

Considering that instances of apparent abuse by employees of the Yerevan Mayor's Office were discovered during the investigation, on April 3, 2023, the Prosecutor submitted a report of apparent crime to the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

On April 14, 2023, the Anti-Corruption Committee initiated a criminal case under Part 2, Clause 2 of Article 441 of the RA Criminal Code (abuse of power or authority by an official that has caused particularly significant property damage).