On 13 April, the judicial examination 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” Company 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 embezzlement or squandering on a particularly large amount), and Sergo Karapetyan, the former Minister of Agriculture, under Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 (or squandering on a particularly large amount),

Samvel Galstyan and Sergo Karapetyan died during the investigation of the case.

According to Iravaban.net, before proceeding to the questioning of the defendants, the Presiding Judge Vahe Misakyan published the pre-trial statements of the deceased.

Sergo Karapetyan stated in his first testimony that he did not know about the alleged abuses in the fuel supply process, and he could not say anything. However, the former Minister of agriculture wrote an application and asked to be interrogated further, because he had information to report in the examination, which he had not reported before.

In the spring of 2013, the Government made a decision to implement a state support program for the purchase of affordable diesel fuel for agricultural works. The programme was to be implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture.

“Since a subsidy contract had to be concluded, a tender as such was not announced. In such cases, the tender announcement is not planned. I instructed my deputy Samvel Galstyan and the Head of the Department Gevorg Harutyunyan to study the market in order to find a suitable supplier at the lowest price. I am aware that a request was sent to the major importers in the market, but now I don’t remember exactly which representatives of the organizations I met with during the implementation of that program,” Sergo Karapetyan said in his testimony, adding that Barsegh Beglaryan called him in January-February and ask for a meeting.

The latter met with the Minister at the ministry, in his office. Sergo Karapetyan testified before the investigator and stated that he did not remember whether Barsegh Beglaryan’s visit was recorded in the ministry in any way or not. “He came to the meeting alone; I remember he brought a bottle of “Madatov” brandy with him. He said that his company produced it, and he had brought a bottle to taste.”

According to the former Minister, no one else was present at their meeting, but he did not rule out that Samvel Galstyan entered his office at some point. During the meeting, the owner of “Flash” LLC stated that he was aware of the fuel subsidy program. He said that he spoke with Serzh Sargsyan and agreed with him to carry out the supply through “Flash”. Sergo Karapetyan did not ask Barsegh Beglaryan what agreement he made with the 3rd President. “I was not allowed to ask such questions and I do not know for what reason Serzh Sargsyan gave his consent for the “Flash” Company to carry out the supply of diesel fuel under the mentioned program. During the meeting, we tasted brandy and talked about the price of fuel. I tried to lower its price as much as possible. I remember that the price offered by Barsegh Beglaryan was higher than the offers of other companies.”

Further, in his testimony, Sergo Karapetyan described the conversation between him and Serzh Sargsyan on the issue and the above-mentioned agreement. It is noted that the Minister told the President about the meeting with Barsegh Beglaryan.

“Serzh Sargsyan said, ‘give it to him, let him organize the supply’. I did not ask any other questions to the President, because it was clear to me that Barsegh Beglaryan had an appropriate agreement with Serzh Sargsyan about the supply,” Sergo Karapetyan said. According to him, he also informed Tigran Sargsyan, who held the position of Prime Minister at that time, about the meeting and agreement with Beglaryan. “The Prime Minister also said that the draft of the Government’s decision in the name of the “Flash” LLC was ready, in other words, he also agreed that the supply will be carried out by Barsegh Beglaryan’s company. I informed the Prime Minister that we have cheaper price offers, but Tigran Sargsyan again insisted that the supply contract should be signed with the “Flash” Company.

In his testimony, Karapetyan stated that he did not tell President Serzh Sargsyan details about the cheaper price offers, because at the beginning of the conversation, the President directly said who should carry out the supply. In his testimony, the former Minister of Agriculture characterized Serzh Sargsyan’s decision as “political”, because he decided at what price the diesel fuel should be given to the farmers and how much the supply will be subsidized. “In other words, I, as a Minister, performed technical work, on the basis of the verbal instruction of the President of the Republic, I instructed to mention the name of the “Flash” LLC and the price offer presented by that company in the draft of the corresponding decision of the Government, regardless of the received price offers.”

Sergo Karapetyan also stated that until 2016, it was Serzh Sargsyan who told him at what price the fuel should be supplied to the villagers and how much it should be subsidized. And the supplier, on the instructions of Serzh Sargsyan, was selected the “Flash” Company.

In his testimony, the former Minister also stated that he had not report this before, because he was constrained by the circumstances of presenting such information about the 3rd President and the former Prime Minister. He noted that after face-to-face questioning with Sevan Kocharyan (“Sobraniye” Company Director Sevan Kocharyan, one of the participants of the competition – ed.) he decided to call Barsegh Beglaryan and meet with him.

He went to the meeting alone. He told the owner of “Flash” that he was summoned for questioning and urged to “take ownership of the case” because he had nothing to do with it. Barsegh Beglaryan also told him that he had nothing to do with the activities of “Flash”, all issues were dealt with by Yasha Khachatryan, the former Director of “Flash” Company and let him answer.

“I said that I did not discuss any issue with Yasha, the discussion was with him. Barsegh Beglaryan once again insisted that Yasha is obliged to solve all the issues, after which I said that I have nothing to talk about with him anymore. All I could do was to inform him that a case about that program is being investigated and I left his office,” the former Minister of Agriculture said.

In addition, Sergo Karapetyan told the investigator that every time Serzh Sargsyan reaffirmed his order that the deliveries should be carried out by “Flash”. He also noted that he realized that the contract with the company is being signed at a higher price, but he had no other option, because he had a clear assignment from the President and the Prime Minister.

The Presiding Judge Vahe Misakyan decided to publish only Sergo Karapetyan’s testimony from the face-to-face interrogation, and not to touch upon the testimony of the defendant who was not interrogated. Prosecutor Arsen Martirosyan objected to the actions of the Presiding Judge. “I ask the court to clarify what is the reason for the approach of partially publishing the testimony.”

The judge noted that the testimony of the defendant is published in court when there are significant contradictions or when the defendant exercises his right to remain silent and is not questioned. “The court decided to publish the statements of the defendants who died during the court investigation, due to the fact of death.”

The Prosecutor claimed that at the time of interrogation, the latter did not have the status of accused.

Several more face-to-face interrogations were published in the court, after which the court decided to postpone the session.

Yevgenya Hambardzumyan