Arsen Torosyan: Deputy ministers do not have functions on which  charge against Yerevan Deputy Mayor is based

ArmInfo. Member of the National Assembly of Armenia from the ruling "Civil Contract" faction, former Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan does not intend to resign his parliamentary mandate. On March 16, he told reporters.

"I don't see any grounds for this," said the MP and former minister,  commenting on the incident of his former deputy, and now the  vice-mayor of Yerevan, Gevork Simonyan, who, according to the  materials of the criminal case, was arrested for two months on  charges of dereliction of duty which caused significant damage to the  state. <I have clearly pointed out the problems on my Facebook page,  point by point. I'm sure justice will prevail in the end. The deputy  ministers of health and the head of the working group did not and  could not have the functions on which the prosecution is built, with  the exception of cases related to a criminal group of persons. It is  necessary to get answers to all questions, otherwise a precedent may  occur, according to which any official can be brought to trial for  not doing something>, Torosyan said.  

Earlier, the Investigative Committee of Armenia issued a message,  according to which Vice-Mayor of Yerevan Gevorg Simonyan was arrested  for two months. According to the case, Simonyan, while holding the  post of Deputy Minister of Health in 2020-2022, did not fulfill his  official duties. As a result of his actions, the state suffered  significant damage. In particular, within the framework of the state  program to prevent the spread, control and treatment of coronavirus  infection, for which the state allocated 26 billion drams from the  reserve fund, Simonyan was appointed responsible for coordinating the  distribution of medical care and financial flows. At the same time, a  list of medical institutions was approved that received compensation  from the state for services for the diagnosis, treatment and  detection of COVID-19.  Among them was also the "Medline Clinic"  medical center , the director of which Babken Shahumyan was convicted  of falsifying the medical records of 385 patients treated at the  medical center.