On 9 March, the trial in the case of the 3rd President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the owner of “Flash” LLC Barsegh Beglaryan, and the head of the Plant Breeding Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gevorg Harutyunyan was held in the Avan seat of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.
Let’s remind that the case being examined in the court refers to the alleged abuses in the fuel supply process about 10 years ago. Initially, 5 persons were accused in the case. 4 of them, Serzh Sargsyan, former owner of “Flash” NNC Barsegh Beglaryan, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan and Head of Plant Breeding Department of the same ministry, Gevorg Harutyunyan, were charged under Article 38-179, Part 3, Clause 1 of the former Criminal Code (organizing, inciting, supporting the misappropriation or waste in a particularly large amount), and Sergo Karapetyan, the former Minister of Agriculture, under Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 (misappropriation or waste in a particularly large amount).
Samvel Galstyan and Sergo Karapetyan died during the investigation of the case.
During today’s court session, the former director of “Flash” LLC Yasha Khachatryan, was interrogated. He mentioned that he worked in the company until 2021. He has good relations with defendants Barsegh Beglaryan and Gevorg Harutyunyan.
Yasha Khachatryan told how it happened that the company offered the highest price for the supply, and the Ministry of Agriculture chose them as a supplier.
“During the interrogation at the investigator, I said that it is possible that they took into account the experience and skill of the “Flash” Company. We have done many such programs. In addition, the question of quality was important. They decided to give it to us, so that we will do it. They gave it to us by the decision of the government, I signed the contract with the Ministry of Agriculture and we started the process,” he said.
According to Khachatryan, he learned about winning the tender from the defendant Samvel Galstyan before the contract was drafted. The witness mentioned that Gevorg Harutyunyan called him and said that Galstyan wanted to talk to him. And he went to the Ministry.
Prosecutor Arsen Martirosyan was interested in the reason for signing the contract with the Flash Company. Khachatryan claimed that the reason was the quality and experience of the company.
In addition, Yasha Khachatryan told the court that he learned from Samvel Galstyan which companies participated in the tender. “I learned only the names; he did not tell anything about the prices offered by them.”
The prosecutor noted that according to the obtained data, the initiative to participate in the program came not from the companies, but from the Ministry of Agriculture. “In other words, competent officials of the ministry called, asked and offered the companies to submit bids.”
Khachatryan insisted that “Flash” Company did not have preferential conditions compared to other companies. Then prosecutor Arsen Martirosyan read a part of Yasha Khachatryan’s testimony in the Investigative Committee. The investigator asked the witness: “Information has been received that on the day of the publication of the tender, you called Sevan Kocharyan earlier than the scheduled time (Sevan Kocharyan, director of the “Sobraniye” Company, one of the other participants of the tender – ed.) and asked in an angry tone: “finished with the Ministry of Defense, now switched to the Ministry of Agriculture? You answered that there was no such thing; you had not called Sevan Kocharyan. However, in response to my question, you said that you called Kocharyan. Please clarify what is the reason for the conflicting information that you gave in court and in the pre-trial body.”
Yasha Khachatryan said that he probably called, but he does not remember. “I called to say why are you poking your nose in here in case when you cannot carry pout the program? You are even unable to return your debt to me. How will you carry out this?”
The questioning of the witness is over, the next court session will take place on 23 March.
