On 3 May, the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court presided over by Judge Tigran Davtyan, continued the Court session in the case of the National Nero of Armenia, former Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan and 12 other defendants.
It should be noted that in addition to Andranik Piloyan, Ashot Hakobyan, Vigen Mkrtchyan, Hrachya Yeremyan, Mihrdat Matevosyan, Artur Ohanyan, Ara Yaghjyan, Gor Hambardzumyan, Artak Beibutyan, Tatul Gevorgyan, Tigran Gasparyan, Gagik Poghosyan and Vigen Grigoryan (arrested) were also charged.
According to Iravaban.net, the “main” accused Andranik Piloyan was questioned at this Court session.
The defendant initially stated that he did not want to answer the questions, and the problem was not that he was constrained in any question, but in principle he did not want to answer, because the questions would be asked mainly about the evidence obtained through operative-investigative data, and according to his claim, all of this was done in violation of the law, about which they would make a statement later.
After that Piloyan stated regarding the charges brought against him that he had planned to buy a heating system for the apartment in the mentioned building in Yerevan, which he acquired in the form of a mortgage loan. “If I’m not mistaken, in the summer of 2021, my assistant Hrachya Yeremyan, having learned about my intention during the conversation, said that we could buy a quality heating boiler from a store he knew, and if we would buy its equipment together with it, there would be significant discounts. After some time, at my request Hrachya Yeremyan determined the total price of the boiler and equipment and, if I’m not mistaken, said that it would cost approximately 750-800 thousand drams.
He gave the mentioned amount to Yeremyan. According to Piloyan, he and Yeremyan were together during these conversations about the heater, no other person was present during their conversation. With the money he provided, Hrachya Yeremyan bought the boiler and the equipment, and since the construction works were not finished, they remained with the latter for some time, after which they were taken to the apartment purchased by his children at the specified address in Yerevan,.
The defendant claims: the aforementioned gas boiler and equipment were not taken as a bribe, but were bought with his own funds, he stated that during the preliminary investigation in this case, during the search of his apartment, a note made by him on a paper regarding the fact that he provided part of the money to Yeremyan for the purchase of the gas boiler and equipment was found. “I also made a note on the papers regarding giving the other part of the money to Hrachya Yeremyan, which, however, I have lost and have not been able to find during this time.”
Referring to the question related to the “SOS Systems” Company in the next episode, Andranik Piloyan said that this Company installed an alarm system and equipment for the MES for a long time, in other words, before he was appointed a minister. According to him, he saw and knew the director after he was appointed minister; he met with him two or three times to discuss practical issues. “As the minister, I also reached an agreement with Ara Yaghjyan that he undertakes to provide 3-4 needy employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with disabilities and wheelchairs with apartments free of charge, as well as to provide discounts on sales prices for those employees of the Ministry who would like to purchase an apartment from the mentioned building. I also informed the higher management about the agreement.”
Regarding the issue of generators, Piloyan mentioned that the competent official of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported to him that the buildings of the Ministry will be without power for a whole day, and, anticipating the disruption of the normal work of the most important structures under the Ministry, he ordered that the generators of the Crisis Management Center be charged, tested and prepared for the day of the power outage to work without interruption. In response to the instruction, he was informed that the generators were not working, after which he ordered to repair the small generator overnight, which was ready in the morning.
Ashot Hakobyan informed about the repair specialist of the big generator, saying that Ara Yaghjyan expressed willingness to repair them. The generator was repaired; the normal work of the Ministry was not disrupted. “As for the fact that I took a bribe of 1 million drams from the director of the Company “SOS Systems” Yaghjyan in order to give any advantage to the said Company or to promote the construction of the said building or to hinder the activities of the rival Company “Lokator”, I inform that the mentioned is completely fictitious. In other words, I categorically deny the content of the accusation presented to me.
As for the episode of receiving a gold bar as a bribe from Artur Ohanyan, I should mention that I intended to buy a gold bar as a gift for my daughter on 8 March, 2022, about which I do not remember when and under what circumstances I informed Vigen Mkrtchyan, who said that he had an acquaintance and could buy a bar at a suitable price.”
He also stated that he paid 300,000 drams for it, after which Vigen Mkrtchyan gave him the ingot, on which he wanted to make a corresponding engraving, but did not manage to do it, and the ingot was taken from the closet during the search of the apartment.
It should be noted that Vigen Mkrtchyan stated something different in the Court. He noted that Piloyan offered Ohanyan the position of the Commander of the Fire and Rescue Squad of the Rescue Service. Ohanyan wanted to “express gratitude”.
“We met with Artur and talked about how he should express gratitude for the favor. I should mention that Andranik Piloyan did not demand anything in return for Artur’s appointment during the conversations he had with me or Arthur, but, in any case, since Arthur’s order was already there, he wanted to express gratitude in some way. We discussed and decided that he should buy a gold bar (925 sg) and present it to Andranik Piloyan as an appreciation for Artur’s appointment,” the accused said.
He also stated that Artur transferred the gold bar he bought to him in order to give it to Piloyan. In February 2022. According to the protocol of the wiretapping examination, the bar was given to Piloyan in his car, saying that it was a gratitude for Artur’s appointment to job.
The next episode was related to Artur Ohanyan’s employment at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, regarding which Piloyan said that he had known the latter for a long time, they have passed a path together during the years of the war. He learned about his desire to get a job when Ohanyan came to him for admission.
The accused emphasized that Artur Ohanyan was admitted to work in the provided order as a result of participating and winning the tender, and Vigen Mkrtchyan had played no role in the said matter. In regard of this episode, Andranik Piloyan denied the accusation of accepting a bribe as well.
About the property of the storage warehouse for non-food products of the “Gagarin” area of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that at the beginning of 2022, the management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that in order to repair the Charbakh warehouse, it was necessary to dismantle certain property from the “Gagarin” warehouse. He instructed to ensure the performance of these works, and instructed Vigen Mkrtchyan to supervise the performance of dismantling works.
“I claim that I did not have any personal, group or other illegal interest in the dismantling of the said warehouse, and my goal was that the said property be dismantled and moved to the Charbakh warehouse for repair work and for the needs of the Ministry. I deny the accusation presented to me about abusing my official powers based on some illegal interest,” Andranik Piloyan said.
The defendant also responded to Vigen Mkrtchyan’s testimony, stating that the incriminating content of that testimony, in other words, the content given against him, was completely false, Mkrtchyan was pursuing the prospect of a lenient sentence, in particular, a conditional sentence. “Vigen Mkrtchyan’s failure to reveal the motive for giving a false testimony in front of the Court was directly comparable to the fact that such a motive simply did not exist. In fact, these statements correspond to reality, it’s just that now Vigen Mkrtchyan has decided that at the expense of tarnishing my good name and reputation, he can go beyond the content of human relationships to ensure a positive result for himself.”
Public Prosecutor Koryun Serobyan asked: if he did not ask questions about operational-investigative operations, if there are other questions, for example, about other factual materials in the case, would Piloyan answer? The defendant said that he had already indicated that he would not answer the questions.
The Judge said that during the preliminary hearings in this case, the volume of evidence was exhausted, so he asked the parties if there were any motions to supplement the volume of evidence to be examined.
Ashot Hakobyan’s defense attorney presented copies of documents provided by “Liga Insurance” CJSC and “Tigran Mets” publishing house, in which there were transfers made by Hakobyan and their dates. The samples were handed over to the Prosecutor and the Court.
At the same time, copies of the documents obtained from the staff of the Criminal Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan city, and the decisions on weakening the implementation of operational-investigative measures obtained as a result of the lawyer’s inquiry, and their attached documents were also presented.
Andranik Piloyan’s defense attorney Andranik Manukyan made a motion, emphasizing the need to interrogate his client’s former driver, Vahan Chilikyan, as a witness in Court, because, in fact, Andranik Piloyan said in his testimony that he gave the mentioned amount to Hrachya Yeremyan in stages. The latter’s questioning also aims to find out whether Piloyan ever gave him money to transfer to Hrachya Yeremyan, stated the purpose of transferring the money or not, as well as other issues arising from this.
Ara Yaghjyan’s defense attorney also requested to invite his client Ara Yaghjyan’s colleague, who was entrusted with the repair of generators, to the questioning. Yaghjyan also asked to prepare an estimate for the repair work.
The Public Prosecutor referred to Andranik Piloyan’s motion to summon the driver for questioning, saying that he objects to it because Hrachya Yeremyan’s testimony was referred to, which for him was not reliable and it was clear from the operational and investigative work that Piloyan did not give any money, he noted that the there was no need for questioning in that case.
Regarding the other petition, Serobyan stated that there was no unexplained circumstance, the relevant transfers were available, and there were also the conversations between Ara Yaghjyan and Ashot Hakobyan and he did not see the need to find out new circumstances. Referring to the documents presented by Ashot Hakobyan’s defense attorney, he said that these decisions were present in the proceedings.
The Court decided that those issues related to “Liga Insurance” CJSC and “Tigran Mets” publishing house can be examined at this Court session, and as for the other documents received from the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction, the Court recorded that they were not evidence in their own way. They were materials of the proceedings.
The Court decided to reject the petitions submitted by the other representatives of the defense side regarding the interrogations, as there were no grounds for the above-mentioned interrogation. There was no need for interrogation.
At the next Court session in this case, the representatives of the defense side will present more motions.
The Court session was postponed.
The next Court hearing is on 24 May.
Mariam Shahnazaryan
