Yerevan’s Opportunity to Receive Around 926 Million Drams Lost: RA Prosecutor General's Office

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia has initiated an investigation into the payment terminals installed on land owned by the city of Yerevan, based on an article published in the online newspaper Hetq.

The investigation revealed that on April 4, 2013, a contract was signed between the Municipality of Yerevan and the consortium of the companies Locator and Parking City Service for the provision of parking organization services in the city. According to an agreement signed on July 10, 2014, it was established that payment terminals would be installed in areas directly adjacent to parking lots. For the installation of these terminals, based on the decisions of the Mayor of Yerevan, 235 plots of land were designated in various administrative districts; however, the rules and conditions for granting the use of the designated plots were not regulated, nor were the payments for them. The responsibility for the organization and execution of these decisions lay with the heads of the Architecture and Urban Development, Transportation, and Real Estate Management Departments of the Municipality of Yerevan.

The investigation conducted by the Prosecutor General's Office found that a total of 1,296 terminals were installed on the sidewalks of the community, i.e., on land owned by the community, without any basis. It was also revealed that in 2017, a service provision agreement was signed between Parking City Service LLC and Easy Pay LLC, according to which Easy Pay LLC was obliged to pay 5,958,000 drams monthly to Parking City Service for the installation of 300 payment terminals on community-owned land. In other words, the fee for installing one terminal amounted to 19,860 drams, which means that the community has effectively been deprived of the opportunity to receive about 19,860 drams for each installed terminal on a monthly basis, amounting to 25,738,560 drams each month, or approximately 926,588,160 drams over a three-year calculation.

Considering that during the investigation, sufficient evidence was obtained indicating that due to the negligent or careless behavior of the officials of the Municipality of Yerevan from 2014 to 2023 regarding the fulfillment of their official duties, there were cases of improper organization of the allotment of communal land, lack of adequate oversight over the efficient use of community property, failure to take measures to stop illegal land use and eliminate its consequences, which has resulted in substantial preliminary damage to the community of around 926,588,160 drams, a report about the crime has been submitted by the State Interests Protection Division of the Prosecutor General’s Office to the Investigative Committee.

Based on this report, a criminal proceeding was initiated on August 2, 2023, under part 2 of Article 315 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, which pertains to official negligence.