The General Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the RA Investigative Committee continues to undertake active investigative and other legal actions to find out all the circumstances of the cases of illegal adoption of children.
Investigative Committee reported.
During the preliminary investigation, as a result of large-scale investigative and other legal actions, information was obtained that since 29 November, 2005, money has been transferred from foreign adoption companies accredited in a foreign country, from their employees, as well as from persons directly applying for adoption in Armenia. The person carrying out the functions of the representative of the mentioned companies, and from June 2007 the mentioned companies started operating in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
According to the data obtained during the investigation, a criminal group was deliberately set up and a criminal group was headed by foreign citizens in order to take care of children who are citizens of the Republic of Armenia.
To achieve the goal of criminal cooperation, that is, the adoption of as many Armenian children as possible by foreign nationals to foreign countries and as a result not to ensure the best interests of the child, but to obtain “improper financial or other gain” which is prohibited by law and Article 32 the UN Convention on Cooperation in the Adoption of Children,
In order to obtain “unjustified financial or other benefit” prohibited by Article 32, the group includes existing maternity hospitals of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, orphanages under its jurisdiction, local self-government, Responsible staff members, such as translators and other service providers, close associates with group members, the group included responsible employees of the current maternity hospitals of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, orphanages under its jurisdiction, local self-government, the Government of the Republic of Armenia and other state bodies, as well as people translating, and providing other services in the process of adopting to people in close contact with members of the group.
According to the investigation, some of the members of the group actually performed the functions of a representative of foreign companies in the process of adoption of children by foreign citizens, while others provided services to them, in return for which in 2005-2019, during the adoption process, more than 1,800,000 Euros ($ 26,000) were transferred from the above-mentioned companies, their employees, as well as those who applied for adoption directly to the representatives of the companies, to the bank accounts of their relatives in the process of adoption of at least 114 children who were citizens of the Republic of Armenia; since 2007, the data of foreign adoptive parents have been mentioned as the purpose of transferring money from abroad.
It turned out that the representatives of foreign companies received a separate amount for each adoption, the amount of which was significantly more than the amount required for the expenses to be made in the territory of the Republic of Armenia during the adoption, as a result of which the participants in the process received unjustified income, has not taken any action in that direction for years, thus creating appropriate conditions for the adoption of children of RA citizens by foreign citizens for the purpose of financial gain by members of a criminal group.
The investigation also obtained information that the responsible staff of the maternity hospitals operating in the territory of the Republic of Armenia had created conditions, so that the biological parents of the children, being misled or threatened, abandon their children. Whereas the officials of the various competent state and local self-government bodies of the Republic of Armenia included in the group, using their official position, facilitated the adoption process to be carried out smoothly, in some cases, even by compiling and submitting to the relevant authorities documents containing false data
At the same time, the investigation provided relevant information on the fact that the person acting as a representative of companies accredited in a foreign country and operating in the Republic of Armenia during the adoption of children by foreign citizens, from 2010-2019, received from the companies mentioned above as well as persons directly applying for adoption in the Republic of Armenia, more than 1,290,000 Euros to his current account in one of the banks operating in the country, which is registered as necessary expenses in the adoption process.
Further, in order to hide the criminal origin of the mentioned sums, he transferred more than 430,000 Euros from the mentioned bank account to different persons and purposes, and more than 402000 Euros were cashed by him, the majority of which stated the purpose, that is, for personal needs. Another citizen of the RA close to the mentioned person received more than 55000 Euros from the above-mentioned Italian organizations in the same process, which were registered as necessary expenses in the adoption process, as well as deposited different amounts of cash in the mentioned account. Then, in order to hide the criminal origin of the mentioned sums, the mentioned person transferred more than 73,000 Euros from the money received to the account to another person, as well as made personal payments.
As a result, by converting and transferring the funds received in the process of foreign adoptions, the property obtained illegally was legalized by laundering the mentioned funds.
A criminal case has been initiated in the Central Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee in connection with the above-mentioned cases of related crimes, according to Articles 168, Part 2, Clause 2 (the purchase of a child for the purpose of taking care of a child or the sale of a child for the purpose of handing over the care of a recipient committed against two or more children); Article 190, part 3, point 1(Legitimizing (legalizing) illegally obtained property (money laundering) which is committed in large amount); Article 223, parts 1 and 2, part 3, point 1 (Creation of criminal associations or participation in criminal association with abuse of official position) of the RA Criminal Case
The investigation is still going on.
Note: A person that is suspected or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent until his/her guilt is proved by a court judgment that has come into legal effect pursuant to the procedure determined by RA Criminal Procedure Code.
