83 Million Dram Embezzled from the State within the Framework of the 'North-South' Project

A resident of the Dzorakap community in the Shirak region, J.A., has urged the former head of the community, Z.S., to commit official forgery and misuse his official position, causing significant damage to the rights and legitimate interests of the Dzorakap community. This was reported by the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office.

Furthermore, community resident J.A. utilized an obviously forged document, resulting in the embezzlement of a particularly large sum of 83,460,082 drams through fraud and deceit, with the assistance of the former head of the Dzorakap community, Z.S.

Specifically, J.A., aware that two buildings he had constructed without permission—a restaurant and a hotel—on community-owned land between 1990 and 1996 were located within the project area for the road to be built as part of the 'North-South Road Corridor' investment program, had convinced Z.S. to misuse his official position against the interests of the service by persuading him to use the land for the exclusive public interest recognized by the Armenian government.

As a result, Z.S. certified fraudulent official documents bearing the seal and signature of the Dzorakap municipal office. Z.S. handed these forged official documents to J.A., who, knowing they contained obviously false information, presented extracts to the State Committee for Real Estate Cadastre under the Government in 2014. On October 29, 2015, the rights to joint property of J.A. and his family members over two plots of land, measuring 0.01789 ha and 0.065457 ha, were registered.

This led the Dzorakap community to be deprived of the possibility of managing, possessing, and utilizing the aforementioned plots of land in accordance with the law and legal acts. Subsequently, J.A. continued persuading Z.S. to initiate the process of changing the purpose and functional use of the plots and recognizing the buildings as legal, with the aim of fraudulently embezzling large sums of money from the Republic of Armenia.

As a result, Z.S. committed official forgeries, recognizing the illegally constructed restaurant building of 654.57 square meters on the 0.065457 ha plot and a two-story hotel building of 359.35 square meters on the 0.01789 ha plot as legal, including false information in the documents stating that the said plots were not located within the expropriation or security zones of engineering and transport facilities.

Based on Z.S.’s actions, contracts for the expropriation of property for social and state needs were signed between the 'North-South Road Corridor' investment program organization and J.A. and his family members on November 13, 2015. Under these contracts, 980,840 drams were paid for purchasing the 0.065457 ha plot, 50,268,966 drams for the building on that plot, 261,405 drams for purchasing the 0.01789 ha plot, and 33,191,116 drams for the building on that plot.

Following a decision by the supervising prosecutor on August 10, 2023, public criminal proceedings were initiated against Z.S. under Article 308, Part 1 (Abuse of Official Authority) and Article 314, Part 1 (Official Forgery) of the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, as well as Article 38-178, Part 3, Item 1 (Assisting in Fraud). Public criminal proceedings were also initiated against J.A. under Article 38-308, Part 1 (Abuse of Official Authority), Article 38-314, Part 1 (Official Forgery), Article 325, Part 1 (Forging documents, seals, stamps, forms, or using them), and Article 178, Part 3, Item 1 (Fraud of particularly large scale).

The Prosecutor confirmed the indictment on August 21, 2023, and forwarded the materials of the case to the Anti-Corruption Court.