On 5 April, the Anti-Corruption Court continued the examination on the claim օն confiscation of property of illicit origin օf the former Governor of Kotayk Marz, the former Mayor of Abovyan City, Karapet Guloyan, and his wife, Roza Tsarukyan,

The General Prosecutor’s Office demands confiscation from Karapet Guloyan and Roza Tsarukyan:

• One residential house and one plot of land in Kotayk Marz,
• Shares held in 2 companies: “AKBA Bank” JSC and “Electromontage” LLC,
• 1 billion 638 million 557 thousand AMD transferred to the bona fide acquirer and the balance of 58 million 120 thousand Illicit income.

According to Iravaban.net, the range of facts to be proven was discussed in the court, presided over by Judge Narine Avagyan. The representative of the respondents, Harutyun Harutyunyan, stated that the burden of proof should be placed on the Prosecutor’s Office that at the time of starting the investigation, property exceeding 50 million AMD was found in the name of Karapet Guloyan.

It should be noted that the the Law on Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin provides for the possibility of confiscation of property of illicit origin if its value exceeds 50 million AMD.

“The burden of proof should be placed on the prosecution that it had such exceptional grounds for extending the period of study, which gave the latter the opportunity to extend the given period and try to invade for more time,” the lawyer noted.

According to him, different regulations regarding illicit property confiscation apply in other countries and the developed judicial practice should also be taken into account. He insisted that the fact that there is an indirect connection between the criminal case regarding Karapet Guloyan and the alleged illicit properties should also be included in the scope of facts requiring proof.

“The European Court recorded: if there is no direct connection, at least there should be an indirect connection. In other words, there must be a connection between the alleged stolen money and the resulting increase in the person’s assets. Otherwise, we will have a situation where, bypassing all statutes of limitation, they try to “take away” the property he worked for and acquired from the person under the guise of criminal prosecution,” Harutyun Harutyunyan said.

The representative of the respondents mentioned that in this case, the economist submitted certain calculations to the court, which includes the information about the minimum consumer basket provided by the statistical committee. “In addition, an employee of the Ministry of Health provides information related to dietary calories. With that, they try to justify how much a person could eat. In this regard, it is necessary to place a duty on the Prosecutor’s Office to justify that the calculations provided by the economist are based on the logic of the law and are admissible in this case. There should be an obligation that these calculations are applicable to both minors and adults.”

Hamlet Harutyunyan, Prosecutor of the Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the General Prosecutor’s Office, noted that there are several models of confiscation of illicit property in different countries, but Armenia has chosen the unexplained enrichment procedure. In this case, according to the prosecutor, there can be no question of a connection between the so-called stolen money and the increase in assets of the person as a result of it.

Referring to the observation of the minimum consumer basket, the prosecutor stated: “The prosecution, within the limits of the information available to it, can form a certain assumption, a reasonable probability. The Prosecutor’s Office, having available data on the person’s legal income, based on them, forms that reasonable assumption as a result of the combination. In this case, there is no question of studying such expenses as the minimum expenses with complete accuracy.”

Hamlet Harutyunyan believes that the responsibility of presenting properties that are not justified by legal income should be borne by the claimant, and the defendant can deny and justify them with legal income.

The court set a deadline for presenting evidence, the session was adjourned.

The next court session will take place on 1 June.

Yevgenya Hambardzumyan

The main photo, Roza Tsarukyan belongs to “Kentron” TV Company, and Karapet Guloyan’photo of the  RA Government.