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Charges against ex-Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan changed - lawyer

10.06.2024, 14:56
The charges against former Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan were changed last week: the wording ‘public damage to the state’ was excluded from the indictment, Kerobyan's lawyer Vache Simonyan said.  
Charges against ex-Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan changed - lawyer

YEREVAN, 10 June. /ARKA/. The charges against former Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan were changed last week: the wording ‘public damage to the state’ was excluded from the indictment, Kerobyan's lawyer Vache Simonyan said.  

Vahan Kerobyan is one of the defendants in the criminal case on abuse of official powers, along with several other officials of the Ministry of Economy, as well as the head and employees of the private company Synergy. He was dismissed on 14 February 2024 and has been under house arrest since 16 February.

"Henceforth, the body conducting the proceedings does not consider that the state has been harmed. The criminal prosecution has been discontinued against 6 out of 8 defendants, one of them was even acquitted,’ Simonyan said at a press conference on Monday.

According to the lawyer, the image of the Ministry of Economy was damaged, the Harmony company was harmed in the form of lost profits, and the state lost the opportunity to create a bank of investment projects.

On 31 January this year, the Investigative Committee of Armenia reported the detention of 7 officials of the Ministry of Economy in two criminal proceedings related to corruption abuses.

In a statement, the Armenian Investigative Committee said that the ministry officials, including Kerobyan, suspended a private company from participating in a procurement tender so that it would be won by another bidder who put up a much higher amount (392 million drams three times more than the competitor). They allegedly rigged the procurement in order to award Synergy International's Armenian subsidiary a $1 million contract.

Kerobyan's arrest followed the detention of his deputy and six other officials linked to the same corruption scandal. Deputy Minister Ani Ispiryan was fired and detained on 31 January. Law enforcement agencies then searched the homes of more than 15 people, eventually arresting six more ministry officials. -0-