No evidence of abuse of office by ex-minister of economy - lawyer

ArmInfo.The authorities carrying out the proceedings themselves still do not understand where  Vahan Kerobyan exceeded his authority - because this is not in the case materials. This was stated during a press conference on June 10 by the lawyer of the former Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan  Kerobyan, Tigran Yegoryan.

"Perhaps there are materials that we were not given for study, but in  the information that was presented there is nothing regarding abuse  of power," he noted.

Returning to the case, the lawyer said that at the moment, out of 8  accused, charges against 6 have already been dropped. The decision to  terminate the criminal prosecution was made due to the fact that  these 6 defendants formally accepted their guilt and repented.  However, upon a detailed analysis of the materials, it becomes  obvious that initially the testimony of the defendants indicates that  the latter do not admit their guilt and declare that they did not  commit certain acts. But in order to free themselves from this story,  they agree on similar conditions to stop persecution against  themselves.

When studying video materials with testimony, as Yegoryan further  said, it is again confirmed that these are not interrogations, but  registration of the desired facts through the use of various  propaganda methods.  At the same time, he drew attention to the fact  that all decisions taken by the investigative authorities indicate  that no damage was caused to the state.

Vahan Kerobyan's second lawyer, Vache Simonyan, added that the only  damage was the reputational damage caused to the Ministry of Economy  of Armenia, as well as the fact that the state lost the opportunity  to have a Public Investment Bank. He also stated that last week the  wording "damage caused to the state" was removed from the text of the  accusation against Vahan Kerobyan.

According to the defense, the investigative authorities are currently  concerned that the case is going downhill, so they are trying by any  means to hold it back.

A criminal case was opened against a number of officials of the  Ministry of Economy and representatives of the private sector on  January 31. According to investigators, as part of the tender  "Creation of a bank for public investment programs," officials  entered into a conspiracy with the head of one of the companies,  creating artificial obstacles to the participation of its competitor.  As a result, the company (Synergy) won, which submitted an  application three times more expensive (392 million drams - almost  $100 thousand).  The directors of Synergy, Ashot Hovhannisyan, were  arrested in connection with the case; former employee of the company,  daughter-in-law of the Speaker of Parliament Ani Gevorkyan; another  employee of the company, Lily Mkryan (Gevorgyan and Mkryan were  released on bail, recognizance not to leave and surety), as well as  the heads of the department of public investment policy and  implementation of agricultural programs of the Ministry of Economy,  Lily Sirakanyan and Taron Martirosyan. The dismissed Deputy Minister  of Economy Ani Ispiryan was placed under house arrest.

The day before, the press service of the Investigative Committee  reported that, as part of the investigation into obvious abuses  committed during the tender for the purchase of the service "Creation  of a Bank for State Investment Projects" for the needs of the RA  Ministry of Economy, criminal prosecution was initiated against 8  persons. Of these, 5 are officials of the Ministry of Economy, 3 are  representatives of a commercial company.