In fulfillment of the order of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia to find out the reasons for the delay in the preliminary investigation of criminal proceedings that have been under investigation for more than eight months, one of them under investigation in the Kotayk Regional Investigation Department have become the subject of investigation in the Department for Crimes against Property of the Prosecutor General's Office.

The examination revealed that based on the application of the citizen S.B., on July 8, 2019, criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 of the Criminal Code adopted on 18.04.2003 (using the official position squandering or embezzlement of somebody’s property entrusted to the perpetrator in significant amount, committed by a group with prior agreement), Article 214, Part 2 of (abuse of administrative authority the by the employees of commercial or other organizations, which caused grave consequences) and Article 325, Part 2 (forgery, sale or use of forged documents, stamps, seals, letter-heads, vehicle license plates, committed by a group with prior agreement).

The preliminary investigation revealed that T.H., who is licensed by the Ministry of Justice to act as a bankruptcy administrator and is registered as an individual entrepreneur, was appointed bankruptcy administrator of the citizen A.S.

T.H., with the intention of stealing properties worth 285 million 755 AMD jointly owned by bankrupts A.S. and S.B., reached an agreement with the estimator P.G., who was an employee of "Anikom" LLC and signed a contract. P.G. examined the immovable properties mortgaged in "Artsakhbank" CJSC, jointly owned by A.S. and S.B., falsified the real characteristics of the properties, made an evaluation report with obviously false content.

In particular, P.G., the estimator of "Anikom" LLC, did not include in the specifications of the real estate the fact that the land parcel was equipped with an irrigation network and was an orchard, characterized the property as waterless land with dry trees and assessed it obviously low: 14 million 700 thousand AMD. Then, the bankruptcy manager T.H. filed a motion with the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kotayk region in order to alienate the properties with that value at auction.

Based on the real estate evaluation report, the Court granted T.H.'s motion to present the properties at an initial auction for 14 million 700 thousand AMD.

On November 12, 2015, the properties were sold to M.H. at two auctions, with clearly low prices: 10 million 800 thousand AMD and 3 million 900 thousand AMD. On November 12, 2015, the properties were sold to M.H. at two auctions, with clearly low prices: 10 million 800 thousand AMD and 3 million 900 thousand AMD.

As a result, the bankruptcy manager T.H. illegally took the immovable properties entrusted to him, causing a property loss of 270 million 955 thousand AMD to the property owners A.S. and S.B.

On October 25, 2021, T.H. was charged (public criminal prosecution) under Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 and Article 325, Part 2 of the Criminal Code adopted on 18.04.2003. On November 17 of the same year, P.G. was charged under Article 325, Part 2 and Article 38-179, Part 3, Clause 1 (aiding to embezzle or waste large amounts of property).

On August 18, 2023, the supervising prosecutor approved the indictment drawn up in the criminal proceedings and handed it over to the Court of First Instance of Kotayk Region.

According to the investigation conducted in July 2023 in the criminal proceedings, data were obtained that the official of the Court of First Instance of Kotayk Marz abused his official powers and intentionally used his official position against the interests of the service and did not perform his official duties.

In particular, in the aforementioned bankruptcy case, the official of the Court, having information that the market value of the land in the aforementioned bankruptcy case was 285 million 755 thousand AMD, agreed to present the orchard as empty waterless land for auction with a starting price of 14 million 700 thousand AMD. After that, the land parcels were presented for auction and M.H., who was in contact with the official, won the auction with an obviously low price.

On December 12, 2015, sale and purchase contracts of land were signed between T.H., the manager of bankruptcy cases and M.H., who was recognized as the winner in the auction, in the notary office of Armavir, and on January 18, 2016, the state registration was done in the Cadastre Committee and was registered as property in the name of M.H. On January 19, 2016, M.H. sold the land to H.P. for 3 million AMD, received state registration, after which the orchard was not developed, it turned into a deserted field. As a result, the owners suffered a particularly large property damage of 270 million 955 thousand AMD, and they were also deprived of the opportunity to repay the debts with the income received from the orchard.

Taking into account the data obtained during the preliminary investigation, on the instructions of the supervising prosecutor, criminal proceedings were initiated on July 31, 2023, in connection with abuse of official powers by the official of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Kotayk region, pursuant to Article 308, Part 2 of the Criminal Code adopted on 18.04.2003. It was submitted to the Anti-Corruption Committee for investigation.

Notice:  A person charged with any crime shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code—by the judgment came into legal force.