RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has commented on the arrest of the Chairman of the Urban Development Committee, Vahagn Vermishyan.
“Today the highest-ranking arrest of the Third Republic took place. We are not joking when we say that corruption has no place in our country. For us there are no former or current bribe-takers,” noted Prime Minister Pashinyan on his Facebook page, emphasizing that every bribe-taker, current or former, will stand before the court.
Let us recall that the NSS issued a statement announcing that Vahagn Vermishyan has been arrested in a case of taking bribes.
According to the NSS statement, factual data have been obtained indicating that, in accordance with agreements reached with persons carrying out construction works or representatives of construction companies, both personally and through a close associate, in 5 instances he accepted bribes in the form of money or commodity values in large and especially large amounts ranging from 1 million to 2.5 million drams, in exchange for which, last year, he performed actions in their favor or facilitated the rapid adoption and provision of desired decisions.
The NSS reports that he founded a design LLC in the name of his close associate and directed construction developers and individuals who approached him to conduct transactions with that company, taking measures for the adoption of favorable decisions by state and local self-government bodies on the basis of documents drawn up by the company.
“In addition, on 23 October 2019, during a meeting held in his office, the Chairman of the RA Urban Development Committee reached an agreement to nominate the owner of several construction companies for the title of ‘Honored Builder of Armenia’, receiving in return as a bribe the sum of 5,000 US dollars equivalent to 2,379,950 drams and construction materials equivalent to approximately 2,300,000 RA drams,” the NSS statement said.
Within the framework of the criminal case initiated by the NSS, persons suspected of committing the alleged crime have been brought in, three of whom — including Vahagn Vermishyan — have been arrested, with the official who received the bribe, having been interrogated as a suspect, confessing to the commission of the crime. The preliminary investigation is ongoing.
Vermishyan, 55, an architect by profession, was appointed to the post of Chairman of the Urban Development Committee in March 2019; prior to that he had been an advisor to the Mayor of Yerevan, and in the past he had held a number of leadership positions in the Russian Federation.
