Former director general of Armenian NPP charged with embezzlement of more than $1 million

YEREVAN, February 2. /ARKA/. Former director general of the Armenian nuclear power plant (NPP) Gagik Markosyan has been charged with embezzling over $1 million, the Office of Prosecutor General said today.

Gagik Markosyan, who served as director general of ANPP from 2002 to 2014, embezzled over $1 (nearly 384 million drams) from the funds entrusted to him, the Office said.

According to the National Security Service (NSS), Markosyan didn't take measures to get price quotations from the companies producing or selling intermediate metal rods for the NPP's reactor and in 2011 approved the purchase of 14 incomplete sets of metal rods from the only bidder – Russian NovEnergoProm for more than 33.5 million Russian rubles at a price higher than the market one. The rods were not in use and remained in the central storage facility, having reached the end of their useful life.

In 2015, the Armenian NPP was forced to buy 37 complete sets of metal rods from Russian Rusatom Service JSC for $592,000 (over 283.5 million drams).

On December 22, 2022, the prosecutor overseeing this case decided to initiate criminal proceedings against Markosyan. On the same day the decision was sent to the Investigative Department of the National Security Service for indictment. Markosyan was indicted on January 31, 2023. --0-