According to the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings being investigated by the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, factual information was obtained that the Deputy Mayor of Yerevan G. Simonyan, 2020-2022 while occupying the position of RA Deputy Minister of Health, he did not fulfill his official duties due to personal interest, as a result of which significant damage was caused to the legal interests of the state.

The Press Service of the Anti-Corruption Committee reported.

According to the data obtained in the criminal proceedings, the RA Government has allocated more than 26 billion AMD for the implementation of the program of “Prevention, control, and other complex measures for the treatment of the new coronavirus infection (Covid-19) in the Republic of Armenia”, which was fully financed from the reserve fund of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. Within the framework of this program, by order of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia in 2020, the list of medical organizations providing medical care and services receiving compensation from the state budget for the diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus disease “COVID-19” was approved. The list also included “Medline Clinic” LLC.

According to the order of the Minister of Health, Deputy Minister G. Simonyan was assigned to carry out the medical care and maintenance services necessary for the coronavirus disease, including coordination of funding, and L.E. was appointed to be in charge of triage (Discharge Triage Groups) of patients receiving treatment in hospital conditions and those subject to discharge.

According to the preliminary investigation carried out in the criminal proceedings, it was found that within the framework of the above-mentioned program, the founding director of “Medline Clinic” LLC B.Sh. organized the inclusion and realization of obviously false information in the medical records of the same company by the doctors of the company, as well as embezzled a particularly large amount of money with the prior agreement with the same persons.

In particular, under the direction and organization of B.Sh., at least 8 of the doctors of the medical organization included false information in the medical records of 385 patients who received inpatient treatment in the somatic department in the period of July 2020 – December 2021, as if the mentioned patients received treatment in the intensive care unit, and then submitted false reports to the RA Ministry of Health.

On the basis of submitted false reports, a particularly large sum of 119,005,000 AMD was transferred to “Medline Clinic” LLC from the financial resources of the program “Prevention, control, and other complex measures for the treatment of the new coronavirus infection (Covid-19) in RA”.

Deputy Minister of Health G. Simonyan, being responsible for coordinating the financing of the above-mentioned program by order of the Minister, as well as being obliged to carry out control over the functions of discharge of patients with coronavirus disease, perusing his personal interest not to worsen his nepotism and former business relations with the Founding Director of “Medline Clinic” LLC B.Sh.,  he deliberately did not fulfill his duties, that is, he did not supervise the discharge triage group manager L.E. and members of the group, as a result of which the members of the said group, visiting the “Medline Clinic” LLC, did not compare the false data in the medical records of the patients receiving inpatient treatment with the actual health condition of the patients and did not record these discrepancies.

As a result of Simonyan’s actions, the Director of “Medline Clinic” LLC B.Sh. was given the opportunity to embezzle particularly large sums of 119,005,000 AMD by means of fraud with prior agreement.

Considering that there are facts proving the commission of the crime, on 9 March, 2023, the investigator of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, who is conducting the proceedings, submitted a motion to the supervising prosecutor to initiate a public criminal prosecution against G. Simonyan under Part 2 of Article 308 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia in force at the time of committing the act. The petition was granted, and the investigator decided to arrest Simonyan, who is at large, in order to bring him to court in order to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention.

As part of the criminal proceedings, on 10 March, G. Simonyan and the Director of “Medline Clinic” LLC B.Sh., the head of the drug-resistant department of the “National Center of Pulmonology” of the RA Ministry of Health, L. E. and 8 other people have been arrested.

The investigation is process.

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.