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.