ArmInfo. The Hrazdan stadium was sold to former MP from the Republican Party of Armenia Ashot Aghababyan (Burnash) at a price 200 times lower than its market price.
According to the RA Prosecutor General's Office, as a result of studying documents related to the process of privatization of the property of the Hrazdan Sports Complex , it was established that all property, buildings, structures and territory of the company are under a lease agreement concluded in 2001 (the "Hrazdan" stadium, located at Yerevan, Hrazdan Gorge, 4, buildings with an area of about 62 thousand square meters and a land plot with an area of 14 hectares), were leased to the "Hrazdan Sports Complex Leasing Enterprise" CJSC (hereinafter the Company).
According to Government Decision No. 1333 of July October 22, 2004, part of the leased property, a land plot with an area of 10.4443 hectares and buildings with an area of 61660.3 sq.m., a sports complex, the Hrazdan stadium, were alienated to the tenant by direct sale. The sale price of the property was set at 87 million 520 thousand drams (there was no justification for such a price in the research data; the proposal of the Minister of Finance and Economy to conduct an assessment of the property by an independent appraiser with the appropriate qualifications to establish a more realistic price was not taken into account). The basis for the government's decision was data from the Department of State Property Management, according to which more than $900 thousand had already been invested under the lease agreement signed in 2001. Meanwhile, according to data received from the State Property Committee as part of the investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office, there is no data on the Company's investments in the amount of 900 thousand US dollars in 2001-2004.
On January 7, 2005, by decision of the general meeting of the Company, shareholder of the same company A.A. assumed the obligations assumed by the Company under the privatization agreement of state property, signed in 2004, to invest 2 million US dollars by 2009. In 2010, the Company was renamed into the Hrazdan Central Stadium CJSC , from which "Europark" shopping center CJSC and "SOLIDUS" CJSC were later separated. By a decision of the court of general jurisdiction of the administrative districts of Kentron and Nork-Marash in Yerevan in 2015, the Hrazdan Central Stadium CJSC was declared bankrupt, and in 2019 liquidation proceedings were initiated against the Company.
Taking into account that, based on unreliable data provided by officials, during this period the government sold the Hrazdan stadium, a property with a market value of about 11 billion 558 million drams (currently the cadastral value close to the market value is 16 billion 127 million 253 thousand drams) , for only 87 million 520 thousand drams, the prosecutor filed a statement of crime to the Anti-Corruption Committee. On February 10, 2024, the Anti-Corruption Committee opened a criminal case under Article 441, Part 2, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code (abuse of official or official powers, or influence or transfer of authority arising from them) and Part 2 of Article 445 (official forgery).
It should be noted that the Hrazdan stadium is the largest and only two-tier stadium in Armenia. It was built with the financial support of the Armenian philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian in 1970-1971. The sports complex is located on the slope of the Hrazdan River gorge, from which it got its name. Initially, the stadium accommodated 75 thousand spectators, but after partial reconstruction and installation of individual seats in 2002, the stadium can accommodate 55 thousand spectators. The stadium is of a two-tier level, the dimensions of the field are 105x68 meters, and includes halls for various sports.