Defense: The criminal case against Serzh Sargsyan is based solely on  the testimonies of Sergo Karapetyan

ArmInfo.The criminal case against third president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and others is based solely on the testimony of the former Minister of Agriculture Sergo  Karapetyan. This was stated by the defense of  owner of Flash company  Barsegh Beglaryan, who insisted that the allegations were therefore  unfounded, since the prosecution relied solely on this evidence.

Serzh Sargsyan is accused of the fact that from April 9, 2008 to  April 9, 2018, holding the presidency of the Republic of Armenia,  using his official position, from January 25, 2013 to February 7 of  the same year he organized the theft of 489.160.310 drams from groups  of officials.

Thus, by a decision of January 24, 2013, the government approved a  state program for the more affordable purchase of diesel fuel for  spring agricultural work, under which it was envisaged to sell  17.041.300 liters of diesel fuel to land users on the basis of  applications submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture. A number of  companies, including MaxHur and Flash LLC, have expressed their  willingness to deliver on the project.  According to the  investigation, after negotiations with MaxHur representatives, senior  officials of the Armenian Ministry of Agriculture decided to submit  to the government for approval the data of the above company as a  fuel supplier in connection with the lowest price offered.

Serzh Sargsyan, aware of the availability of a cheaper supplier of  diesel fuel under the program, realized that as a result of signing  an agreement on subsidizing the price of diesel fuel with Flash Ltd,  which offered comparatively higher prices than MaxHur, it would be  unreasonable to charge large facilities. As a result, Sargsyan  created more favorable conditions for Flash Ltd and instructed the  government to sign a supply agreement with Flash Ltd. through a  number of senior officials. As a result of this, according to the  decision of the Armenian government of February 7, 2013, the Ministry  of Agriculture allocated 1,789,336,500 drams for the supply of  17,041,300 liters of diesel fuel from the government reserve fund,  and on February 21, 2013 the funds were transferred to the account of  Flash Ltd.

Subsequently, the amount of fuel required by the decision of the  government was brought up to 17,343,530 liters, and the amount  provided amounted to 1,821,070,650 drams. In this connection,  according to the contract of March 13, 2013, signed between the  Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia and Flash Ltd, an additional 31  734 150 drams were transferred to the company's account on April 2 of  the same year. As a result, during the implementation of the above  program, between 12 February and 28 June 2013, 12 088 333 liters of  diesel fuel were sold, and the amount of the subsidy amounted to 1  269 275 070 drams.  However, in the case of fuel supplies at the  prices proposed by MaxHur, the amount of the subsidy would have  amounted to only 846 183 380 drams, that is, in fact 423 091 690  drams were wasted.  By the decision of the Government of the Republic  of Armenia dated August 29, 2013, the remaining unrealized 5,255,196  liters of fuel worth 551,795,580 drams were left at the disposal of  Flash Ltd (Flash LLC) to implement a program to provide diesel fuel  to land users at affordable prices for the implementation of autumn  agricultural works.

Based on the aforementioned decision of the Government of the  Republic of Armenia, on September 12, 2013, the Ministry of  Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia and "Flash" LLC signed the  "Subsidy Agreement", according to which the subsidy in the amount of  551,795,580 drams was reissued for diesel fuel in the amount of 6 131  062 liters. As a result, from September 12 to November 23, 2013, 3  303 431 liters of diesel fuel were sold, and the amount of the  subsidy amounted to 297 308 790 drams. However, when providing  services from the other company mentioned above, the amount of the  subsidy would be only 231 240 170 drams, that is, 66 068 620 drams  were actually wasted. As a result of the transaction organized by  Sargsyan, 489.160.310 drams were stolen.