Speaking about the fifth episode of alleged bribery charges against Vahagn Vermishyan, defender Alexander Kochubaev drew the court’s attention to several points.
In this episode, Vermishyan has been charged with demanding and receiving 150-grade concrete with a volume of 24 cubic meters and worth 571,920 AMD from Razmik Khurshudyan.
According to the defender, the interdepartmental commission did not have normative grounds for work, it was created by Vahagn Vermishyan: “The logic is lost, if this wasn’t a mandatory legal procedure, then what was the necessity for Vahagn Vermishyan to give that assignment for the commission to provide a positive conclusion?”
Witness Nune Petrosyan confirmed that the documents complied with the requirements prescribed by law, moreover, there was no preliminary agreement between the parties that Vahagn Vermishyan would deal with Razmik Khurshudyan’s land or construction issue, and the latter would supply concrete in return.
“It’s not that the documents brought by Razmik Khurshudyan were immediately registered in the committee, they were brought, there were deficiencies, it was suggested to correct the deficiencies in the package, only after that the documents were registered in the Urban Development Committee, and this story ended with that,” she said.
According to Kochubaev, during the discussion of this transaction, it was revealed that Razmik Khurshudyan’s issue was related not to the change in land designation, which was within the Urban Development Committee’s scope, but to the legalization of the constructed building: “Due to this, Mr. Vermishyan was no longer a proper subject, as what Razmik Khurshudyan considers as the subject of bribery was not being transferred to the proper subject, because that function was a community function.”
Brief summary of the alleged bribery episode: The defense presented substantiated arguments regarding the charges in this episode.
- Counter-arguments
- The commission was formed by Vahagn Vermishyan, which had no legal basis for operation,
- A few days later, Razmik presented Nune Petrosyan with a list of necessary documents that complied with the established procedure.
- Nature of the transaction:
- The completed package was officially entered from the community to the RA Urban Development Committee, after which the package was sent to the interdepartmental commission for opinion,
- Vermishyan stated that there were many cases when before starting the design work, people were asked whether they had payment-related issues or not. In this case, calling Khurshudyan and asking questions about transferring money for completed work is not interference, but a sign of fairness to evaluate the work done by committee employees.
- Legally unfounded accusation:
- Obtaining building legalization and giving a bribe for it is outside Vermishyan’s functions,
- Razmik Khurshudyan did not receive patronage, as there were deficiencies in the documents, they were corrected, after which the new documents were registered in the committee.
Conclusion: The defense refutes the arguments brought by the prosecution in this episode, noting that Razmik Khurshudyan himself stated in his testimony that the issue was outside the committee’s authority, he refused further cooperation, moreover, he instructed that the concrete should not be supplied. Under conditions of uncertainties in the documents, the patronage factor cannot be predominant here. There was no preliminary agreement between the parties, Vahagn Vermishyan did not show any priority regarding the transaction in this episode. The defense also emphasizes the most important circumstance – the interdepartmental commission was not normalized to ensure the objectivity of the issue.
Vahagn Vermishyan does not plead guilty to all episodes of the charges and demands acquittal.
Details in the video.
