On 17 March, the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court, held the court session in the case of the national hero of Armenia, former Minister of Emergency Situations Affairs Andranik Piloyan and 12 other defendants continued, which was presided over by Judge Tigran Davtyan.

According to Iravaban.net, the session started about 50 minutes late, because the only arrested defendant in the case, Vilen Grigoryan, was brought to the court late. After the beginning of the court session, the judge asked him what the reason for not appearing at the previous court session was, at the same time informing him that the absences were considered disrespectful.

Vilen Grigoryan mentioned that both today’s delay and his absences are due to his health condition. According to the defendant, he has a skin disease, and in addition, he coughs up blood.

“If I came, people would have got infected. I did not come respecting, and not that I did not respect those present. I asked the doctor: if I am healthy, where does the blood come from? He said trhat it was accumulated blood, and your veins are emaciated. They found an infectious disease in me, they found blockage of the veins. I learned internally that there is an order not to keep me in the hospital. I came to the Penitentiary, I got worse again in the Penitentiary, they took pictures with an X-ray machine, and they took sputum again today, and took me to Abovyan for examination. Every time I was taken to the hospital, an illness increases,” the defendant said.

The judge reminded that an examination of Vilen Grigoryan has been appointed, the judge’s staff will establish contact with the expert forensic institution to find out at what stage the examination is and in what terms it will be carried out. It should be noted that Grigoryan’s cough did not stop during almost the entire session. The latter often left the meeting hall and then returned.

Vilen Grigoryan’s defense lawyer submitted a motion to return the money confiscated from the “pocket of the jacket” during the search of his client’s house, because it belongs not to the defendant, but to his son. The court found that the petition cannot be granted at this stage.

During today’s session, the court considered the preliminary hearings finished and decided to appoint the main hearings. Koryun Serobyan, the prosecutor in the case, presented the factual basis and the legal evaluation of the actions attributed to the accused.

According to the materials of the case, Hrachya Yeremyan, the head of one of the departments of the Ministry, using his official position, informed Andranik Piloyan, who held the position of the Minister of Emergency Situations, about his willingness to pay a bribe of 2,000 USD, equivalent to 960,000 AMD, in order to hire the relevant person in the Ministry. Andranik Piloyan agreed to accept the bribe in the form of a heating boiler and parts necessary for its operation. Yeremyan bought a Baxi Boiler worth about 644,000 AMD and necessary parts for its operation from one of the shops of the “Ideal System” Chain Stores. The discounted price of the boiler alone was around 341,000 AMD. Yeremyan kept all this in his garage in order to pass it on to Piloyan later.

After some time, Piloyan’s advisor Ashot Hakobyan started the process of moving and installing the heating boiler in the apartment purchased in the name of Andranik Piloyan’s son and daughter. During that time, Hakobyan learned that Hrachya Yeremyan has raised the price of the boiler and informed Piloyon about it, which caused the latter’s anger.

Then the Minister called Hrachya Yeremyan to him, scolded him, and then demanded that he leave his office. After all this, Yeremyan moved the Baxi boiler to the house of Piloyan’s son and daughter, Ashot Hakobyan took the missing money from Yeremyan and transferred it to Piloyan in different ways.

In addition, committing obvious illegal acts and sponsoring services in favor of “SOS Systems” LLC cooperating with the Ministry, that is, interceding with the relevant officials in obtaining necessary permits for the construction of an apartment building near the Ministry by the director of the mentioned company, as well as as well as to create obstacles for other entrepreneurs providing similar services, in 2022, Piloyan received a large bribe of 1,000,000 AMD through his adviser Ashot Hakobyan. As a result of the search, the specified amount was found in Hakobyan’s safe.

According to the materials of the case, Vilen Mkrtchyan, the head of one of the units of the Minister of Emergency Situations, learned from his acquaintance Artur Ohanyan about the latter’s intention to be appointed to the position of commander of one of the Ministry’s Rescue Service Detachments through giving bribe and in January 2022 informed Piloyan about that. Piloyan accepted the offer. After Artur Ohanyan was appointed to the relevant position, Vilen Mkrtchyan assisted Minister A. Piloyan receiving a bribe in the form of a gold bar from the mentioned person. The gold bar was found in Piloyan’s apartment.

According to the accuser, the preliminary investigation also revealed that Andranik Piloyan, without the procedure and documentation prescribed by law, gave a verbal instruction to Vilen Mkrtchyan to dismantle the property worth more than 18 million AMD of the Gagarin warehouse of the State Reserves Office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Further, in March 2022, Vilen Mkrtchyan with the intention of stealing the mentioned property, moved it to a private area and sold a part of it to a resident of Sevan city.

During the session, the prosecuting attorney also presented the indictments of the other 12 defendants.

Yevgenya Hambardzumyan