Arsen Torosyan to be questioned over COVID-related abuses

The newspaper "Joghourt" reports: "In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, the phase of witness questioning has begun in the anti-corruption court regarding alleged abuses. According to information received by "Joghourt", former Minister of Health and currently a MP from the Civil Contract party, Arsen Torosyan, will be summoned for questioning as a witness in this case of abuses, having already been questioned once. Among those involved in the alleged abuses during the coronavirus period are former Deputy Minister of Health Gevorg Simonian and other individuals.

According to the anti-corruption committee, Gevorg Simonian, who was responsible for the distribution of state funding, is accused of inadequate oversight in connection with the director of the “Medline” clinic, leading to Babken Shahumyan embezzling approximately 120 million drams. Law enforcement officials indicate that those responsible did not correlate the false data provided by the “Medline clinic” regarding the patients with the actual health status of the individuals and did not record the discrepancies.

Gevorg Simonian, who held the position of Deputy Minister of Health from 2020 to 2022, denies the charges against him. The deputy mayor of Yerevan was in custody for about two months before being released."