Prosecutor General`s Office demands arrest of Vigen Sargsyan

ArmInfo.Former Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, who held this post in 2016-2018, has been charged in a criminal case on abuse of power.

According to the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia, Sargsyan in  January 2018, in the process of distributing apartments in an  apartment building at the address Yerevan, st.  G. Hasratyan, 25/6,  which is on the balance sheet of the Ministry, deliberately committed  actions that are clearly beyond the scope of his powers.

As part of the criminal proceedings, sufficient factual evidence was  obtained that Sargsyan had to make a decision on the distribution of  71 apartments among the needy servicemen. However, ignoring the  requirements of order, he instructed members of the Central Housing  Commission of the Ministry to allocate 26 of these apartments to the  servicemen who were not in the queue, as well as three more  apartments to persons who were not military personnel of the Ministry  of Defense.

As a result, many beneficiaries of the system, who really need  housing, who have been registered for receiving housing for many  years, were deprived of their legal and legally guaranteed right to  receive apartments with the right to use them free of charge, in the  manner prescribed by the RA legislation, and the Ministry was  deprived of many apartments on the balance sheet, from the real  possibility of providing them for free use, using them for the needs  of the ministry, and hence the effective implementation of social  security issues for military personnel.

On February 8, the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office decided to  initiate a public criminal prosecution against Sargsyan and five  members of the central housing commission of the Armenian Defense  Ministry, the latter were charged.  At the same time, a petition was  submitted to the court regarding the detention of the accused V.S. as  a preventive measure.

It should be reminded that two former defense ministers Seyran  Ohanyan and David Tonoyan have already been charged. The latter is in  custody.