Tuesday, July 2 2019 15:02

ArmInfo. The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia summed up the criminal cases on corruption crimes registered in the field of social security, in particular, in the  process of allocating and paying benefits and pensions in the period  from January 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019.

According to the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office, it  was established that the competent authorities of the Republic of  Armenia initiated 166 criminal cases on the facts of corruption  abuses registered in the above-mentioned social security fields, in  accordance with Articles 179, 178, 3111 and 3121 of the Criminal Code  of Armenia. 151 of them were related to cases of social benefits and  disability benefits, 6 cases were related to pensions, and another 9  cases were related to corruption in the field of medical and social  expertise.

These crimes were carried out both in the regions of the country and  in Yerevan. Moreover, examining the facts of these criminal cases, it  was found that criminal acts in the field of disability benefits were  coordinated and schematic. In particular, civil servants and other  employees who were not officials for making a proposal to award  family benefits regarding the accuracy of the data specified in the  application- declaration on family composition, for providing a  positive opinion in this regard, determining the unit of family  insecurity by the program method, inclusion in the list of persons  receiving benefits, and then for the non-payment of benefits in  subsequent years for many years, they demanded and received bribes.    In addition, hundreds of citizens without their knowledge were  included in the list of beneficiaries of social benefits, meanwhile,  the amount allocated to them by the state was plundered by various  officials. These crimes were mainly committed against the most  vulnerable groups, in particular, against families in which there are  people with disabilities, and those who are in a difficult financial  situation.  The inspections also showed that, as a rule, the heads of  regional departments of social services, junior, senior and leading  specialists from various agencies, employees of "Haypost", employees  of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, etc. were involved in  the corruption scheme.  According to the revealed crimes, criminal  proceedings were instituted against 249 people. During this period,  12 criminal cases with accusation against 41 people were sent to the  court, of which 33 have already been convicted. The damage inflicted  on the state on the above crimes amounted to 772.5 million drams, of  which about 139 million drams were reimbursed.