The Case of 2 Million Drams Property Theft by the Commander of an Armenian Defense Ministry Unit Disclosed

The criminal proceedings examined by the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia have substantiated that T. M., the commander of the Defense Ministry's military unit N, while being responsible for the protection of the unit's material assets, conspired to steal property worth 2 million Armenian drams that had been entrusted to him.

During the investigation, it was found that T. M. had instructed the driver of the unit's automotive company, G. D., and the supply officer, K. A., to remove unserviceable spare parts of a tank engine made of 10 tons of duralumin from the unit's warehouse and sell them. Specifically, at T. M.'s request, the unit's engineer, unaware of the real purpose and route of the vehicle's operation, created false transportation documents. Based on these documents, G. D. and K. A. loaded the unserviceable spare parts onto a truck attached to the unit and transported them to one of the settlements in the Kotayk region from February 2 to May 3, 2024, where they unloaded the parts on G. D.’s land.

Subsequently, to fulfill T. M.'s illegal order to sell the described spare parts, G. D. made an agreement with a scrap metal dealer to sell the stolen parts at 400 drams per kilogram. As a result, out of the 4 million drams received, G. D. gave 3 million drams to T. M., while the remaining amount of 1 million drams was controlled by himself and supply officer K. A. During the investigation, K. A. and G. D. fully returned the mentioned 1 million drams.

T. M. faced charges under paragraphs 2 and 3 of part 2 of Article 256 and part 1 of Article 445 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, while G. D. and K. A. were charged under paragraphs 2 and 3 of part 2 of Article 256. The investigation in the criminal proceedings has been completed. The prosecutor approved the indictment conclusion, and the materials of the proceedings have been sent to court for substantive examination.

Note: The accused in a criminal offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia by a legally enforceable court decision.