On December 26, 2025, the prosecutor submitted to the competent court the files of the criminal proceedings concerning Kh. M., the Director of the Institute of Hydroponics Problems after SNCO “G.S. Davtyan of the National Academy of Sciences” (hereinafter referred to as the “Institute”), as well as one other person.

The criminal proceedings investigated by the Investigative Committee revealed that, during the period from 2013 to 2019, Kh. M. concluded contracts with three companies for the supply of goods for state needs, under which, during the reporting period, 35,700 liters of gasoline equivalent to AMD 14,676,000 was entrusted to him. Subsequently, under the pretext of carrying out the Institute’s current activities, scientific expeditions and local business trips, and with the assistance of the deputy director and the driver, Kh. M. wrote off various amounts of fuel that were not used for their intended purpose. Employees traveled to the locations necessary for conducting scientific and scientific-technical research or for carrying out the Institute’s current activities at their own expense.

As a result of the above-mentioned actions, Kh. M. embezzled the property entrusted to him, causing total damage to the state in the amount of AMD 14,676,000.

In addition to the criminal proceedings, the Prosecutor’s Office, within the scope of its authority to protect state interests, has:

• Filed a claim with the court demanding to declare invalid the privatization of the Institute’s Dilijan Experimental Station. An examination conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that Kh. M.’s father — S. M., who had been the director of the same Institute prior to Kh. M.’s appointment as acting director, illegally privatized in 2003 a 6-hectare land plot located at the Parz Lake Highway in the Dilijan community. In particular, an examination carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office of Malatia-Sebastia Administrative District of Yerevan, within the scope of its authority to protect state and community interests, established that by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR dated October 3, 1966, the Institute was granted the right to use free of charge a 6-hectare land plot located at the Parz Lake Highway in the Dilijan community. By a government decision dated March 20, 2003, the Ministry of State Property Management was authorized to sell the Institute’s Dilijan Experimental Station (one building with a total area of 296 sq. m and three infrastructure facilities with a total area of 188.1 sq. m) through a tender. A tender was held on August 12, 2003, for which S. M. and E. M. submitted applications to participate. The minimum sale price for the building and infrastructure facilities was set at AMD 2,350,000. S. M. offered a purchase price of AMD 2,500,000, an investment of AMD 1,000,000 over a period of three years, and, as an additional condition, the retention of the scientific staff. The other tender participant offered a purchase price of AMD 2,700,000, an investment of AMD 5,000,000 over a period of three years, and as an additional condition, the creation of eight new vacancies within two years.

Based on a report submitted as a result of the examination conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office, criminal proceedings were initiated at the Anti-Corruption Committee, which established that, by a decision of the tender commission and in violation of the tender procedure, S. M. was declared the winner.

• It was established that on April 30, 2004, S. M. under a sale contract alienated an immovable property with an area of 62.67 sq. m located at the Parz Lake Highway in the city of Dilijan to A. Ch. for AMD 416,000, and on March 31, 2008, the same immovable property was alienated to S. M.’s son — Kh. M. According to a letter from the Dilijan Municipality of Tavush Region, land plots with areas of 3,000 sq. m, 2,000 sq. m and 1,000 sq. m, which are included in the category of “lands of specially protected areas”, allocated to the Institute, were renamed “Darman” recreation zone, and the buildings were used as holiday houses.

On the grounds that S. M. alienated the above-mentioned property in violation of the law, the Prosecutor’s Office has filed a new claim with the Anti-Corruption Civil Court demanding termination of the state property privatization agreement concluded on September 19, 2003, and, as a consequence, annulment of the state registration of ownership rights carried out in S. M.’s name.

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.