The Arrest Decision of Alen Simonyan's Brother's Wife Challenged

Lawyer Musheg Aleksanyan has received the court's decision to impose arrest as a preventive measure on Ani Gevorgyan, the wife of Alen Simonyan's brother. "We have received the court's decision, and we have submitted the corresponding appeal," lawyer Musheg Aleksanyan told Tert.am.

It is noteworthy that Ani Gevorgyan has been arrested for two months. She has worked for many years at one of the most well-known IT organizations, Synergy, where she was a project manager. About a year and a half ago, Synergy participated in one of the tenders announced by the Ministry of Economy. Four companies participated, but the tender was canceled, and naturally, Synergy did not win. It is reported that this failed tender forms the basis of Ani Gevorgyan's charges, according to several media outlets.

Attempts have been made to arrest Alen Simonyan's brother's wife to possibly extract testimony against Ani Ispriyan, the Deputy Minister of Economy, and the head of the ministry's department, who were arrested a day prior. Earlier, the Investigative Committee reported that two separate criminal proceedings had been initiated, including searches carried out in the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia and in the homes of several individuals.

During the investigation, it was clarified that officials of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, with the encouragement and support of the director and employees of participant N joint-stock company in the tender for the acquisition of the service for the establishment of a "Public Investment Programs Bank," violated the requirements of the Law on Procurement of the Republic of Armenia and the decision No. 526-N of the Government of Armenia dated May 4, 2017. They created conditions that allegedly made it impossible for another foundation to participate in the competition, unlawfully considering it non-compliant with the tender conditions and effectively removing it from the competition. As a result, a company that submitted a price offer nearly three times higher, exceeding 392 million AMD, was declared the winner in the tender.