Illegal Registration of Land Plots: Former Cadastre Official's Case Sent to Court

The criminal proceedings examined by the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia have revealed that a person occupying the position of head of a regional division of the Cadastre Committee has misused his official position by illegally facilitating the registration of property rights to land parcels without any legal basis.

Specifically, it was found that the mentioned official illegally registered the property rights of a citizen for a land parcel of 0.2200 hectares, which was unlawfully allocated for indefinite use from a section adjacent to the Yerevan-Sevan highway, in violation of the procedures established by the RA Land Code and in the absence of relevant documentation. The basis cited for this registration was a non-existent decision by the head of the Arinj village council dated October 1, 1996.

As a result of the criminal actions of the aforementioned official from the Cadastre Committee, a land parcel with a market value of 15,900,000 AMD was illegally removed from the balance of the Abovyan community. Additionally, based on the outlines of structures with an area of 3965.65 square meters presented by another employee of the Cadastre Committee, the mentioned official included false data in the property rights certificate and registered an additional 0.08 hectares of the same land parcel without any legal grounds.

Consequently, another land parcel with a market value of 9,760,000 AMD was also unlawfully removed from the balance of the Abovyan community, depriving the community of the opportunity to use the land according to its intended purpose and serve the public interest.

During the investigation, criminal charges were brought under Article 308, Part 2, and Article 314, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, adopted on April 18, 2003 (corresponding to Article 441, Part 2, Point 5 and two episodes of Article 445, Part 1 of the Criminal Code adopted on July 1, 2022). The investigation of the criminal case has been completed, and the materials of the proceedings have been sent to the Anti-Corruption Court of the Republic of Armenia with an indictment conclusion.