On 6 October, the Anti-Corruption Court held a hearing in the case of Vahagn Vermishyan, former Chairman of the City Planning Committee, and former Chief Architect of Stepanavan city.

According to Iravaban.net, the presiding judge Karapet Badalyan announced at the beginning of the session scheduled for 11:00 that the escort battalion of the police informed that it will be possible to bring Vahagn Vermishyan to the court between 12:30 and 13:00. The session was adjourned and continued from 13:00.

At the beginning of the session, Vahagn Vermishyan addressed a question to Naira Artashesyan, the prosecutor of the Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office. “On what basis was my property acquired in 1993, 1995, which is nothing more than an investment in the Republic of Armenia, considered illegally acquired property?” I have a question. If similar claims can be made regarding all those who contributed to the RA by working abroad, then Alek Manukyan and his daughter could be asked, Kirk Kerkorian, Samvel Karapetyan or other people who worked abroad and contributed to the RA. Or you can file a lawsuit against people who worked as a taxi driver day and night in some Belgian city and acquired property. Ask: where did you get that property?

Naira Artashesyan mentioned that the Prosecutor’s Office filed a confiscation claim for the alleged illegal property acquired in 2006 and it refers to the plot of land in Agarak village.

“The prosecution also does not rule out that people can work abroad and receive income, but according to our research, we did not have any other information on the income than the data received from state bodies. If you have income data that you received abroad, you will present it, we will take it into account,” the prosecutor noted, and added that the study was conducted exclusively in the RA; no inquiries were made to other countries.

Vermishyan told the court that he had bought the mentioned plot for 300-350 USD. He described the claim as absurd and claimed that the money was earned abroad and invested in Armenia. “I worked for almost 27 years, without even a month’s vacation, and I invested in my homeland, I bought the land next to my grandfather’s house.”

He mentioned that he designed a city in Sudan, he designed 2 hotel complexes in Dubai, and he implemented various projects in Saint Petersburg, Slovenia and China. He designed a total of about 5 million 800 thousand square meters of buildings, “Now I feel like my hands were tied in a boxing ring and I was told to box,” he said.

Vahagn Vermishyan mentioned that if he will allocate 1 year, he could show how much money he received for his projects abroad. He mentioned that the filing of the lawsuit has a political purpose, and the Law “On Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin” started the destruction of Armenia.

The representative of the defendant, Armen Melkumyan, petitioned the court to postpone the session, because the latter were involved in the case 10 days ago, and they did not meet their client, they have met him for the first time today, in court. “There is a number of information, facts and documents that we need to make a final decision on the case.”

Vermishyan joined the submitted motion and once again insisted that this is an unprecedented case for Armenia, when they decided to confiscate the property of a person who worked abroad. “It is not a problem, I am a working person, since God has given me the opportunity to live, and I can still work. If, of course, the property confiscated from me goes to good causes, but I’m not sure about that.”

He also informed the court that the houses in Agarak and Stepanavan, included in the claim, were given to those forcibly displaced from Artsakh. According to Vermishyan, investigating such a case today is something similar to immorality; he acquired all the properties before taking office.

The Presiding Judge Karapet Badalyan reprimanded the respondent and urged him not to use such expressions. Naira Artashesyan did not object to postpone the session. The judge warned the lawyers that the court cannot delay the examination of the case with the involvement of every new group of lawyers. “The petition is granted for the last time.”

At the end of the session, Vermishyan insisted on his earlier statement, noted that the case is political, “those responsible will be held accountable accordingly”.

The prosecutor interceded to involve Ameriabank and Ardshinbank as a third party in the case, because the real estates included in the list of properties subject to confiscation in the lawsuit are mortgaged in the mentioned banks. The parties did not object to the involvement of third parties in the case.

The next court session will take place on 3 November.

Yevgenya Hambardzumyan