Armenian Prosecutor General reports 100 lawsuits for about $1.3 billion in cases on confiscation of illegally acquired property

YEREVAN, May 3. /ARKA/. As of today, more than 100 lawsuits on confiscation of illegally acquired property totaling more than $1.3 billion are pending in Armenia, Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan said.
"The amount may swell, as there is property whose market value has not yet been calculated, as well as shares in legal entities which have not been assessed," she said to Armenia's Public Television
Vardapetyan explained that the issue is about the persons who were accused of corruption offenses.
She said that the cases also include current corrupt officials, but explained that the law prohibits the provision of information on cases in progress.
Answering the question of why the court proceedings involving former President Robert Kocharyan and his affiliates are delayed, Vardapetyan explained that the Anti-Corruption Court was finally formed last year when the system became institutionally ready to investigate such cases.
"It is for this reason that the process has only just begun to materialize. For example, the lawsuit regarding Kocharyan and his affiliates was submitted to the court on October 9, 2023. It was necessary to prepare all institutional bases before that," she said.
Regarding Kocharyan the Prosecutor's Office demands confiscation of 25 real estate units, 5 vehicles, shares in 16 Armenian and foreign legal entities, securities in the form of deposits worth more than $4 million, the right to demand loans worth about AMD 10 billion and more than AMD 35 billion.
According to Vardapetyan, the prosecutor's office insists that the mentioned property and funds are not substantiated by legal income.
"We cannot complete the trial within nine months. For this, I assume, there are certain objective, I hope, reasons. But the position of the Prosecutor General's Office is that the delay is absolutely groundless," she emphasized.
At the same time, she noted that the Prosecutor General's Office had not submitted a complaint against the judge, delaying the trial.
"We submit to the Minister of Justice reports from prosecutors; in 2023 there were 10 such reports concerning proposals to impose disciplinary responsibility on judges who committed certain offenses," she said, adding that only a warning in relation to one judge was announced. -0-