By a sufficient body of evidence, obtained during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated on September 11, 2015 in the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with p. 2 p. 4 art. 311 of the RA Criminal Code upon the receipt of a bribe by an official on a particularly large scale, it has been confirmed that the MP of National Assembly Aram Harutyunyan, holding the post of Minister of Nature Protection in 2008 and at the same time the chair of the intergovernmental commission providing special licenses for conducting research to extract minerals for issuing a special license for research and operation of 10 non-ferrous metal mines in Syunik, Gegharkunik, Lori and Kotayk regions, has demanded from S.A. and through intermediaries has received a bribe in the amount of $ 14 million. From January 2008 to November of the same year, the latter cashed out $ 6 million from this amount to A. Harutyunyan through intermediaries, and the remaining $ 8 million through bank transfers, again through intermediaries.
In this criminal case, two persons have been charged under p. 2 p. 4 art. 38-311 ("Complicity in accepting a bribe by an official on a large scale"). Two more people have been involved as accused of committing a similar criminal act. Detention has been chosen as a measure of restraint in relation to them. They are put on the wanted list.
Within the framework of the criminal case, data have been obtained that Aram Harutyunyan actually owns several mansions and apartments in Yerevan, a seven-story building located on the territory adjacent to Republic Square, a restaurant complex, a building of public importance on D. Anhakht Street, 10/1 in Yerevan the cadastral worth of which is more than 427 million drams, as well as more than a dozen land plots of agricultural importance in the community of Getamedzh in Kotayk region. They also have declared an amount of more than 1,5 million US dollars. The totality of the evidence obtained within the criminal case provides sufficient grounds for engaging RA MP Aram Harutyunyan as an accused under p. 2 p. 4 art. 311 and p. 1 p.3 art. 190 (“Legalization of income obtained by illegal means on a large scale") of the RA Criminal Code. The nature of the imputed crime, the involvement of many people in the chain of receiving a bribe indicate a high degree of public danger, a number of people involved in the commission of a criminal act are either close to him or people working in the structures and private companies he heads. The RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan presented to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, in the person of the Speaker of the Parliament, a petition to give consent to initiate criminal prosecution of NA MP Aram Harutyunyan and to chose detention as a measure of restrain against him.
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.
