Criminal case launched for suspected  crime  in equipment procurement  for Ajapnyak metro station project:  Hetq

ArmInfo. A criminal case has been launched in relation to a potential crime committed during  the ordering and procurement of equipment for the Ajapnyak metro station project. The investigation, conducted by the Investigative Committee, is based on indications of official negligence (Article 446, Part 1 of the Criminal Code), according to the online newspaper  Hetq.

The publication recalls that since 2019, the capital's authorities  have been declaring their intention to construct the Ajapnyak metro  station. During the 2023 Yerevan City Council elections, the ruling  Civil Contract party promised to begin construction of the Ajapnyak  metro station in 2024 and finish it in 2028.  As of December 2025,  only the metro station design was ready. The preparation of these  documents also did not go smoothly.

Tigran Mushegyan, head of the transport and metro department of the  Municipal Investment Program Implementation Department, had revealed  that the metro design documentation was incomplete and that the  company responsible for the design had been overpaid. The purchase  and sale agreement was revised: the scope of work was reduced, but  the price of 1.8 billion drams was not reduced. As a result, the  Yerevan community suffered millions of drams in damages. The official  contacted law enforcement agencies, and following the instructions of  the Prosecutor's Office, the Criminal Police launched an  investigation into the Municipality's Program Implementation Unit. On  November 9, 2021, an agreement was signed between the Yerevan  Municipality and the Russian joint-stock company Metrogiprotrans for  the "Consulting services for the Preparation of Design and Estimate  Documentation for the Construction of a Metro Station in the Ajapnyak  District of Yerevan." Appendix 1 of the agreement describes the work  to be performed by Metrogiprotrans. For 1 billion 848 million drams,  the contract included the preparation of design documentation for the  metro station. Clause 1.5 of Appendix 1 (the terms of reference),  which is considered an integral part of the agreement, states:  "Design stage" - "Design documentation."

Government Resolution No. 596-N of 2015 stipulates: "Design  documentation, depending on the risk level, may be developed in a  single phase (the "Working Design") or in two phases (the "Design"  and "Working Documentation"). The metro station is classified as a  Category 4 risk facility, and the documentation was supposed to be  prepared in the two specified phases.

Earlier, Yerevan Deputy Mayor Levon Hovhannisyan reported that the  design for the new metro station was prepared in December 2024.  However, the official platforms publishing information on state and  municipal procurement, gnumner.minfin.am and armeps.am, have not  published the transfer and acceptance certificate for the services  rendered. There is a contract and five separate agreements. The  agreements related to payments, five of which were signed in 2023.

Hetq has revealed that the company "Metrogiprotrans" only prepared  the metro station design and submitted it to the municipality.  However,  the  construction cannot proceed without "Working  Documentation." These documents serve as guidelines for the  construction organization during the construction process, detailing  the construction data for each structure/building. The head of  transport and metro programs at the Yerevan Municipality's Department  for the Implementation of Investment Programs for Construction told  Hetq that the work stipulated in the technical documentation of the  signed contract was not fully completed, causing the municipality to  suffer.

"Metrogiprotrans only completed the work corresponding to the Project  stage, while the 1.8 billion drams of financial resources stipulated  by the contract were intended for the development of both the Project  and the Working Documentation. In other words, the work remained  unfinished," said Tigran Musheghyan. He learned of this violation in  2025, shortly after beginning his tenure at the community Program  Implementation Office (PIO).

Tigran Musheghyan informed the PIO management of the aforementioned  omission and proposed making the necessary adjustments to the  supplementary agreement to align the technical specifications with  the actual scope of work. "As a result, Agreement No. 6 was drawn up.  However, since the ORP management took no practical steps to regulate  or reduce the payment amount stipulated in the contract, this became  an attempt to conceal the violation. This issue was not raised for  discussion by the responsible agency, and as a result, the designer  was paid the entire amount outlined in the contract," notes the ORP  official who filed the criminal complaint with the Prosecutor  General's Office.

In response to a written inquiry from Hetq, the Prosecutor General's  Office stated that no criminal case had been initiated based on the  complaint. By decision of the Prosecutor's Office, the complaint was  forwarded to the Main Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of  Internal Affairs for prompt review. The Ministry of Internal Affairs  reported that the Criminal Police is conducting investigations. On  November 18, Hetq sent a written inquiry to Yerevan Mayor Tigran  Avinyan asking for information on the changes made to the contract.  As of December 25, no response had been received.

At the same time, Tigran Mushegyan, head of transport and metro  programs, is convinced that the Russian company's work isn't worth  1.8 billion drams. That is, the project and working documentation  could have been prepared for this amount, but today the municipality  is forced to bear additional costs for these documents. What is the  reason for this situation? According to Tigran Mushegyan, at a  minimum, it's the unprofessional approach and negligence of the  officials in charge of the Yerevan Municipality, who are parties to  the contract.

Hetq recalls that at the government meeting on September 18, 2025,  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan inquired about the status of the  Ajapnyak metro project with Mayor Tigran Avinyan. Avinyan assured  that the Ajapnyak metro station project had passed all stages of  assessment. "We have divided this project into three stages:  construction of the tunnel section from the Barekamutyun metro  station to the gorge, construction of the bridge, construction of the  bridge-tunnel station, and the station itself. We will announce a  tender for three lots, as we have already discussed, and informed all  potential large companies about participating in these tenders. We  will have a winner, and in the next stage, we will discuss the  provision of financial resources. I can say that we will be able to  begin work on the Ajapnyak metro station in 2026," Tigran Avinyan  stated.

At the Yerevan Council of Elders meeting on December 23, the mayor  announced that they were discussing the tender procedure for the  station's construction with the government. "We need to adopt a  separate government decision, adding special conditions regarding the  metro construction tender. In reality, the scope of work is very  large, and it will be very difficult to manage the construction  process using our standard procedure. We have proposed to our  partners in the government, who seem to be willing to follow FIDIC (a  method for implementing construction projects in which large urban  development projects are implemented under standard contracts  developed by consultants)," Avinyan said. 

Note, earlier, it was reported that part of the funds intended for  the construction of the new Ajapnyak metro station was used to  purchase 45 trolleybuses.