New Charges Filed Against Ruben Hayrapetyan

The former president of the Football Federation of Armenia, Ruben Hayrapetyan, faces new public criminal charges involving four counts of fraud totaling 152 million AMD and money laundering of 16 million AMD. This information was reported by Lurer.

“Ruben Hayrapetyan, being formally informed that funds have been allocated to the Football Federation by UEFA and FIFA for charitable programs aimed at building youth sports schools, aimed to embezzle these allocated funds,” said Prosecutor Shiraz Grigoryan.

According to the indictment, Hayrapetyan entered into a contract with the ‘Zeytun’ sewing factory, which he owns. Subsequently, according to the prosecutor, the Federation's first vice president, Armen Minasian, along with the factory's workers and engineers, created forged execution acts regarding the construction work.

“It has been recorded that more work was claimed to be done than was actually completed. In this way, through fraud, 152 million 680 thousand AMD was embezzled for the construction of sports schools in Sisian, Vagharshapat, Gyumri, and Sevan between 2011 and 2018,” the prosecutor added.

Additionally, according to the charges, Hayrapetyan misappropriated the financial resources of the federation. “As a part of civil-legal formal transactions, Hayrapetyan selected a vehicle worth 8 million 400 thousand AMD that was listed on the balance sheet of a mineral water plant owned by him, and then sold this vehicle to his son’s company director, Narek Ghazaryan, for 2 million AMD, which is below market value, on December 20, 2017,” noted the prosecutor.

The prosecutor emphasized that since 2018, the Football Federation's budget did not include any acquisition of vehicles. To carry out his illegal intentions without obstruction, on February 16, 2018, he issued an order No. 7, according to which it was necessary to purchase a Porsche car worth 25 million 75 thousand AMD for marichas from Argentina. Subsequently, on the same day, the vehicle was sold to the Football Federation under a purchase and sale contract at the specified value.

In total, there are five defendants in the case, including the federation's former president and vice president. However, only four have appeared in court as Ruben Hayrapetyan is currently on the wanted list.