Wednesday, June 10 2020 14:11

ArmInfo. The RA Prosecutor  General's Office provided details of the corruption deal between the  sons of the former head of the State Revenue Committee and the former  Minister of Finance of Armenia Gagik Khachatryan and the General  Director of Multi Group Concern LLC Sedrak Arustamyan.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, in a criminal case of  unprecedented scale, many episodes of official and economic crimes  have been revealed, including the giving and receiving of bribes on  an especially large scale, the legalization of property on a  particularly large scale, acquired by criminal means.  In particular,  during the preliminary investigation, evidence was obtained that the  general director of Multi Group Concern LLC S.A. in 2008-2014 gave to  the former Minister of Finance (held the position in 2014- 2016) and  the former head of the State Revenue Committee (held the position in  2008-2014) G.Kh., through the sons of the latter, a bribe in the  amount of $ 22.4 million (in dram equivalent over 8.1 billion) to  obtain sponsorship of the organization led by him, including from the  tax and customs authorities.

In order to conceal the criminal origin of the specified amount,  G.Kh. - at the initiative of his sons - transferred it to the  accounts of foreign non-resident organizations interconnected with  his sons. For the same purpose, loans between them and S.A. were made  in the amount of $ 7 million and $ 13.4 million, respectively, while  no amount has been repaid to S.A. over the past years to this day.

Based on the aggregate of sufficient evidence obtained during the  preliminary investigation, S. A was charged under clause 1 of part 3  of Article 38-190 and clause 1 of part 3 of Article 312 of the RA  Criminal Code, and arrest was used as a preventive measure. For these  episodes, criminal proceedings were also instituted against other  persons who took part in the crime, and property belonging to the  accused was seized in order to ensure possible confiscation and to  cover legal costs.

The necessary measures are being taken to comprehensively disclose  corruption crimes and establish the full circle of persons involved  in the corruption scheme. Measures are also being taken to verify the  lawfulness of the origin of the bribe, given that the accused S.A.  claims that he had $ 22.4 million as his maternal grandfather,  serving in the Soviet army during the Iranian war, brought in large  quantities of the so-called "Shah gold", which was transferred to  S.A. in 1987 by his grandmother.

Gagik Khachatryan, as well as his sons and nephew (owners of Galaxy),  are accused of embezzlement on a particularly large scale and abuse  of office. Gagik Khachatryan was charged under part 2 of article 308  of the RA Criminal Code (appropriation or embezzlement of funds on an  especially large scale) and part 2 of article 308 of the RA Criminal  Code (abuse of official authority entailing serious consequences).  Sedrak Arustamyan was charged as a defendant in a number of criminal  cases, including for the termination of the unauthorized seizure of  land owned by the state or community.