Request to Arrest the Wife of Alen Simonyan's Brother Presented to Court

According to NEWS.am, a request to arrest the wife of the Chairman of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan's brother, has been submitted to the court.

It is currently unknown under which article of the Criminal Code she has been charged. This request is being reviewed in the context of the arrests that began yesterday at the Ministry of Economy of Armenia.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee had issued a statement regarding a criminal investigation, stating that officials from the Ministry of Economy of Armenia had, with the encouragement and assistance of the director and employees of a joint-stock company participating in the procurement for the 'Creation of Public Investment Programs Bank', violated the requirements of the Law on Procurement and the decision of the Government of Armenia N 526-N of May 4, 2017, thereby creating conditions that rendered another participant's involvement in the competition virtually impossible, incorrectly deemed it non-compliant with the competition requirements, and effectively removed it from the tender.

As a result, the company that presented an offer nearly three times higher than its competitor—over 392 million AMD—was declared the winner of the tender. The rights and legitimate interests of the participating foundation in the tender were violated due to these actions, causing substantial harm to the state. Yesterday, the NSS arrested six individuals.

In another criminal case, an official from the Ministry of Economy, endowed with the relevant authority, maintained close relations with individual V.D., who was a beneficiary of the government support program for the establishment of intensive orchards, and knowing the details of other beneficiaries, during the years 2022-2023 presented documents to the Ministry of Economy contradicting the Program's requirements for agricultural service provision or the purchase of products. However, he did not reject their financial compensation; on the contrary, he submitted reports claiming that the works performed by the beneficiaries complied with the Program's parameters. After that, he requested an order from the relevant department of the Ministry to implement payments to the beneficiaries' bank accounts according to the Program.

As a result, a number of beneficiaries were unjustly compensated particularly large sums through bank transfers by the Ministry of Economy within this program, totaling 238,418,100 AMD, which was fraudulently embezzled by V.D. and other beneficiaries. This official has been arrested as a result of the operational-investigative actions jointly conducted by the staff of the Investigative Committee of Armenia and the NSS.