The hearing on the claim for confiscation of allegedly illegally obtained property of former Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan continued today, January 23, at the Anti-Corruption Civil Court, presided over by Judge Lili Drmeyan.
According to Iravaban.net, Gevorg Kostanyan’s representative Varazdat Asatryan filed a motion requesting to involve the former Prosecutor General’s driver Martun Badalyan in the case as a third party without independent claims.
“During the judicial process, particularly in several episodes and in the claim, his property unit’s existence was recorded and attributed to various participants in the proceedings. We naturally haven’t accepted this, therefore under these circumstances of dispute over his property unit and the presented claim concerning my client, it’s largely an indirect dispute over property rights,” he stated. He went on to explain that the subject’s rights are directly and indirectly related to the case.
The presiding judge said the factual grounds weren’t clear to the court and asked for clarification.
“It was recorded that Martin Badalyan had involved deposit funds attributed to the proceedings’ participants and subjected to changes. There were property units that were either sold to him or had connections with lease rights. Consequently, it was recorded that this person repaid the deposit, made new deposits, which were attributed to other participants in the proceedings. Therefore, the factual basis is the existence of property units where this subject was considered the titular owner by the competent authority, but the real beneficiary was considered to be the participants in the proceedings,” explained Varazdat Asatryan.
He argued that this person should be present at the trial to explain whether Gevorg Kostanyan has any connection to these units or whether they belong to him or not.
The judge noted that Martin Badalyan was mentioned in the claim as Gevorg Kostanyan’s driver, to which the lawyer responded that he doesn’t have information about Badalyan’s “official passport” position and that it wasn’t particularly essential.
Public Prosecutor Nelli Ter-Torosyan stated that there is no material legal claim against Martin Badalyan, and no property currently subject to confiscation is registered in his name. However, she confirmed that Badalyan was recorded in the claim as Gevorg Kostanyan’s driver who conducted several transactions on behalf of Kostanyan and his wife, and during Kostanyan’s tenure, made deposits worth up to $200,000, later withdrew these deposits, and acquired several properties that didn’t correspond to his legitimate income. The competent authority assessed that the real beneficiary was Gevorg Kostanyan.
The prosecutor didn’t object to the lawyer’s motion and noted that Martin Badalyan could be involved as a third party in the case.
The judge said a separate judicial act would be issued following the examination of the motion.
Judge Lili Drmeyan asked Kostanyan’s representative if he was ready to present his final objections regarding the claim at this session.
Varazdat Asatryan said he would present the objections at the next court session, as there were certain questions that needed clarification from the competent authority.
When the judge asked why these questions weren’t being raised at this session, Kostanyan’s representative said he didn’t think they could clarify these issues now.
The judge inquired whether the plaintiff could answer the lawyer’s questions at this point, to which they responded that if technical questions were to be asked, similar to those answered by the economist in the previous session, these questions should be submitted in writing according to the agreement.
Nevertheless, Kostanyan’s representative posed some questions to the public prosecutor regarding loan repayments, deposits, and bank transfers.
Varazdat Asatryan asked about transfers made abroad: “You presented transfers made to the Russian Federation, did you attribute these exclusively to Lilit Kostanyan?”
The public prosecutor stated that Gevorg Kostanyan was the real beneficiary of the transfers: “The transfers were made from Lilit Kostanyan’s account.”
Hasmik Sargsyan
Details in the video
