The Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia reports that, on the basis of the totality of sufficient evidence obtained during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case under consideration, former President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has been charged with the commission of a publicly dangerous act, in that, occupying the office of President of the Republic of Armenia from 9 April 2008 to 9 April 2018, and using his official position, he organised the embezzlement by a group of officials of a particularly large amount of money — 489,160,310 Armenian drams — from the state through squandering, during the period from 25 January 2013 to 7 February of the same year.
“Serzh Sargsyan, being aware of the existence of a fuel supplier at a cheaper price within the framework of the programme, realised that, in the conditions of the presence of prices advantageous for the state offered by other suppliers, as a result of concluding a contract for the financing of fuel supply with the ‘Flash’ LLC company, which offered a higher price compared to them, particularly large amounts of money would be unjustifiably withdrawn from the state. Ignoring this circumstance, proceeding from his personal interest in ensuring maximum profit for the ‘Flash’ LLC company from the transaction, using his official position, through a group of officials under his subordination, he organised the commission of embezzlement by squandering of a particularly large amount of money entrusted to the government of the Republic of Armenia, located in the reserve fund, in particular, instructing officials in actual service dependence on him to select the ‘Flash’ LLC company as supplier, regardless of the cheaper price offers received, and to conclude the supply contract with that company,” the statement said.
Thus, during the implementation of the aforementioned programme, through the organisation of former President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, a total of 489,160,310 Armenian drams was embezzled from the state by a group of officials through squandering.
A written undertaking not to leave was chosen as a preventive measure against Serzh Sargsyan.
Aysor.am, citing its source in the law-enforcement system, noted that the SIS had set a condition before Sero Karapetyan: either he must testify against Serzh Sargsyan, or he would be arrested. According to the same source, Sero Karapetyan testified against Serzh Sargsyan and received guarantees from law-enforcement officials that he would not be arrested.
Let us recall that the ‘Hetq’ periodical wrote on 10 June 2019 that charges had been brought against former Minister of Agriculture Sero Karapetyan within the framework of a criminal case being investigated at the Special Investigation Service.
According to the website’s SIS source, the criminal case concerns the process of fertilisers provided to farmers at affordable prices under a state financing programme. The damage caused to the state is estimated at approximately 1 billion drams.
