Armenia’s Special Investigative Service has announced that the Military Investigative Main Department of Armenia’s Investigative Committee has filed charges against former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan for abuse of official powers and exceeding official authority, as defined for the relevant officials of Armenia’s defense and armed forces.
Sufficient evidence has been obtained to charge former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan as a defendant in a case of exceeding official authority, the Investigative Committee reports.
“The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia made a decision regarding the allocation of 29 of the 71 apartments in building 25/6 on G. Hasratyan Street in Yerevan, and the issue of allocating those apartments was not discussed by the commission at all, while as a result of the commission’s discussions, a number of apartments in the said building, at the instruction of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, were allocated by the commission in violation of the procedure established by the aforementioned decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, as a result of which significant damage was caused to the rights of servicemen in need of permanent housing in the system of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, and to their and the state’s legitimate interests,” the statement released by the Investigative Committee said.
The criminal case has been sent to the Special Investigative Service of the Republic of Armenia to continue the preliminary investigation.
Vigen Sargsyan is the first deputy chairman of the former ruling Republican Party, served as chief of staff to third President Serzh Sargsyan, and was Minister of Defense from 2016 until the Velvet Revolution.
