By the Department of State Interests Protection of General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, on the basis of a study obtained from the inspection body for the protection of nature and mineral resources, it has been revealed that officials of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia, using their official position contrary to the interests of the service, ignoring the requirements of the current law of the Republic of Armenia “On Environmental Impact Assessment” on April 1, 2009 on behalf of the Republic of Armenia have signed a mining license agreement with CJSC.
Officials of the Ministry of Nature Protection and Energy of the Republic of Armenia abused their official position , taking as a basis the actually invalidated expert opinion on the environmental impact and the groundless official explanation issued by the Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia without a conclusion on the technical safety established by law on Novemner 23, 2012 have transferred the right to mining in the same field to another company - LLC. On the same day, the abovementioned LLC has been also granted a mining permit, and on December 12, 2012 - an allotment certificate.
In the course of an inspection carried out on the basis of the relevant instructions of the head of the inspection body for nature protection in the specified LLC it has been recorded, that the company in december 2017 with violation of state examination of the project, rules for the use of subsoil and their protection, carried out mining of 1,330 tons of ore on the specified field, from which 11.31 kg gold has been obtained at the sum of about 218 million drams, 84.5 kg. silver - about 19 million drams and about 5.25 tons of copper –15 million drams ”.
The mined ore has not been reflected in the statements submitted by the company to the competent authority.
A criminal case has been initiated in the Department of State Interests Protection of General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, under p. 2 of art. 291 and p. 2 art. 308 of the RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation has been entrusted to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.
Note: Every person suspected in or charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent unless proved guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code and unless the verdict comes into legal force.
