More government officials prosecuted in Armenia in 2020 than in 2019

YEREVAN, April 12. /ARKA/. In 2020, the number of government officials prosecuted for corruption-related crimes was 26.6% more than in 2019, the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia reported.
It said in 2020, some 1,810 criminal case files involving corruption crimes were prepared and criminal cases were launched into 1,232 of them, which is 11.9% (167 cases) less than in 2019.
The Prosecutor General's Office cited the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Artsakh as the reasons for the decline, as well as a Criminal Code amendment enforced on March 25, 2020, according to which 70 corpus delicti are considered corruption crimes.
Overall, in 2020, some 1,356 people were prosecuted in 2,535 criminal cases, which is 7.3% more than in 2019. The number of officials and public servants subjected to criminal prosecution for corruption increased by 26.6% compared to 2019 (from 530 people to 671).
These officials include ex-president, ex-speaker of parliament, MP, ministers, deputy ministers, head of the Constitutional Court, first instance court judge, judges of the bankruptcy court, head of the town planning committee, chief of police, deputy chief of police, ex-ambassador of Armenia, 150 army officers, directors of medical institutions, university rectors and professors.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, some 4.5 billion dram damage caused by corruption crimes was recovered last year, up from 2.5 billion dram worth damage recovered in 2019.
In general, according to preliminary estimates, about 227 billion dram damage was caused by the criminal cases investigated in 2020, up from 105.7 billion dram damage caused to the government and communities in 2019.
In the course of preliminary investigations of criminal cases last year, damage was restored in the amount of 14.2 billion drams, which is 12.6% more than in 2019. -0-