In the course of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, which is being investigated under the procedural lead of the Prosecutor of the Department of Supervision over Legality of Pre-trial Proceedings in the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia were discovered cases of corruption offenses committed against the state by an employee of Tashir territorial center of the Unified Social Service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.
In particular, it was found out that the senior social worker of the social work program department of the said center, A.I. in the period 2020-2021 committed illegal actions in favor of 5 people. These families received family allowances and in return for A.I. personally received an amount of 85000 drams.
Criminal case regarding the commission of a crime under Part 2 of Art. 311.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia by A.I. with the indictment was sent from the RA Prosecutor General's Office to the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction of the RA Lori region for consideration on the merits.
Decisions were made not to carry out criminal prosecution against 5 persons on the basis of repentance, given that the latter committed a crime of medium gravity for the first time and assisted in solving the crime.
During the investigation, it was found out that there are no control mechanisms in relation to the implementation of the functions provided for the verification of specific data included in the personal files of beneficiaries, as well as control which led to the inclusion of incorrect information in the files.
Taking into account that the lack of control mechanisms contributes to the commission of corruption crimes, and similar crimes were registered in previous years in a number of other regional centers of social services in Lori region, the RA Prosecutor General's Office sent a petition to the head of the unified social service on the issue of strengthening control in the territorial centers of social services.
The petition raised the issue of taking measures to properly control the work activities of employees of the unified social service of the ministry, detect possible abuses committed by employees and introduce effective prevention mechanisms.
It was also proposed to discuss the legality of the payment of benefits to the families of these 5 people.
Notice: 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.
