2018 June 22

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-corruption 06/22/2018: 1) Lieutenant Colonel arrested for bribery 2) "Gyumri" beer company charged with avoiding 360mln in taxes. 3) Prosecutors discover a new case where 1.8 bln public funds were wasted by gov employees 4) Vosku Shuka employees claim bribery by management and city (MORE BELOW)
by ar_david_hh

Disclaimer: All the accused are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law, even if they may sound as being guilty. Currency in Armenian Drams ֏ unless specified otherwise.

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Lieutenant Colonel arrested for bribery of large sums. Offices raided. Paperwork found.

Prosecutor's office says 1.8 billion drams were improperly managed by Department of Agriculture employees due to not following procedures and granting illegal contracts. Criminal investigation is launched.

A mayor from Syunik is under criminal investigation for stealing pipelines that were meant for building irrigation system for villages. He told authorities the pipes were stolen by someone else, while he was the one who stolen them.

An emergency department head from an Ararat village under criminal investigation for stealing medication and money. Allegedly lied about the funds being used for transportation.

Popular "Gyumri garejur" avoided 360mln in taxes. Conducted unfair business practices. Criminal investigation is launched.

Vosku Shuka employees claim management would often ask for bribes

in exchange for not charging monthly space rent fee interests. Claims that thugs were sent to shake up for money. Employees are boycotting the latest rent increase. They claim the city administration improperly taxed them.

Manvel's son, now former Echmiatsin mayor, claims they "wasted" city funds by regularly fixing city roads, which would break very often, because he had no construction experts who knew that pouring hot asphalt into wet street holes full of water was a bad idea, and that the road had to be dry for it to work. [not a sarcasm]

Yans restaurant (owned by Serj's bodyguard) manager's weapons were properly licensed, but he is accused of stealing funds. NSS searches his house. Finds D36 million in cash. Another $1 million found at the office. Origins of funds are being investigated.

Manvel's lawyer appeals to public to save his client's reputation. Blames Pashinyan for influencing the lawsuit. Claims his client has health issues.

Shmays

praises NSS for treating him well, not harassing his family during the raids. Suggests that if this was few years earlier the law enforcement would have treated him badly, like they did to his brother years ago. He admits that some of the weapons were unlicensed so he voluntarily handed them over to the law enforcement which is why he was released from detention. Claims four other weapons were licensed. The NSS confirms there was a criminal investigation against him for conspiring with a group of people to hide the illegal weapons, but the law required the charges to be dropped because the person voluntarily surrendered them to the police.

A HHK mayor from Armavir resigns. Youth celebrates. Claims he did so to prevent conflict of interest and to let the city residents feel more free.

Multiple Parliament MPs guarantee that two Sasna Tsrer participants will stay in the country if released from prison until their trial is over. They petitioned the judge to release them. Another Sasna member released from custody after similar guarantees were presented.

Multiple political figures who participated in protests during the Sasna Tsrer events on 2016 had criminal cases dropped against them. They were accused of inciting riot.

Anti-monopoly institution is attempting to find ways to reduce heart surgery costs by reducing revenues for hospitals from 25% to 15%, and finding cheaper equipment importers through a better competition.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/8t4fz4/anticorruption_06222018_1_lieutenant_colonel/