The preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated on the extortion of a large amount of money from grants provided by the EU Delegation to Armenia to a number of non-governmental organizations is completed at the General Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of the RA.

As a result of large-scale investigative actions undertaken in the scope of the criminal case, sufficient evidence have been obtained, which showed that that, in the period of 2009-2016, a group of persons with prior agreement elaborated grant programs, acquire registered non-governmental organizations, which had history and through which the programs have been submitted to the grant competitions announced by the EU Delegation to Armenia. The submitted grant proposals were approved with the support of the EU Delegation’s staff member and funds were funds for the implementation of the programs.

The mentioned persons have compiled false accounting, financial-economic, project documents, in particular, fraudulent labor contracts, fraudulent documents for the purchase of goods, and false business trips documents on the basis of which they have stolen a particularly large amount of funds from the means provided for the implementation of the projects.

As a result of the complex examination, sufficient evidence was obtained, which revealed that the total number of the stolen assets from 18 funded EU funded project was 907,281,869.7 AMD.

In combination of the obtained evidence, 19 individuals were accused with a charge for committing fraud, particularly large-scale embezzlement, assistance in embezzlement, forgery of documents by a group of persons with prior agreement.

In the case of 14 persons, the case was divided into a separate proceeding, and completion of the preliminary investigation was announced.

Based on the evidence obtained,

1. Marine Papyan was charged according to Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code 16 episodes, and Article 38-178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, 2 episodes.

2. Tigran Sukiasyan was charged according to Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code and Article 325, Part 2, 15 episodes.

3. Garik Chilingaryan: Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 6 episodes.

4. Rubina Ter-Martirosyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 4 episodes.

5.Armen Bareghamyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 2 episodes.

6. Gevorg Ghazaryan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 2 episodes.

7. Dina Manukyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, 1 episode.

8. Aleksander Poghosyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 1 episode

9. Sergey Balasanyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 1 episode.

10. Karen Stepanyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 1 episode.

11 Armen Mikayelyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 1 episode.

12. Arman Mkrtchyan, Article 38-178, Part 3, Point 1 and Article 325, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code, 3 episodes, and Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 1 episode.

13. Anahit Avagyan, Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 4 episodes.

14. Nelli Sedrakyan, , Article 178, Part 3, Point 1 of the RA Criminal Code, and Article 325, Part 2, 2 episodes.

The criminal case against 14 defendants was sent to the court with the indictment. The investigation is underway.

Note; Everyone charged with alleged crime offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.