RA Prosecutor`s Office launches public prosecution of ex-president  Robert Kocharyan and eight others

ArmInfo. The Prosecutor's Office of Armenia has opened a public criminal case against second President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. This was  announced in a statement by the supervisory body.

The statement notes that the former president is charged with abuse  of office (three counts), bribery on an especially large scale (two  counts), and money laundering on an especially large scale (four  counts). The Prosecutor's Office also opened a public criminal case  against nine more individuals, including the son of the second  president, Sedrak Kocharyan; former Minister of Defense of the  Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan; former Prime Minister of the  Republic of Armenia, Andranik Margaryan; former Mayor of Yerevan,  Gagik Beglaryan; as well as the person who held the position of  director of the economic affairs of the private households "Kond" and  headed "Aygedzor" LLC, which carries out construction activities; his  wife and two daughters. During the criminal investigation conducted  by the Anti-Corruption Committee, it was revealed that during his  tenure as President of the Republic of Armenia from 1998 to 2008,  R.K., in collusion with a number of individuals and guided by  personal and private interests, used his official powers to transfer  state property in particularly large quantities to himself and  individuals and companies associated with him on favorable terms,  including at prices significantly below market value and without open  bidding, as well as to conceal the criminal origin of this property  and give its acquisition the appearance of legality. Specifically,  R.K. and A.O., who held the position of director of the Kond private  houses, reached a preliminary agreement to acquire several valuable  state-owned real estate properties through processes organized with  the participation of state officials at prices significantly below  market value and without competitive procedures. Thus, R.K., who held  the post of President of the Republic of Armenia, had close ties with  A.O., who held the position of director of the company "Kond Private  Housing" and headed the construction company "Aygedzor" LLC. To  ensure the execution of formal transactions, the second president's  son, Sedrak Kocharyan, A.O.'s wife, and A.O.'s daughters were also  involved in a chain of interconnected and mutually reinforcing  criminal activities.

As part of a criminal scheme, former Yerevan Mayor R.N. (Robert  Nazaryan - ed.), in violation of a number of laws, submitted for  government approval a draft resolution "On leasing land without a  tender," which permitted the leasing without a tender of 4 hectares  of land adjacent to Acharyan and Tsarav Aghbyur Streets in Yerevan,  and 2 hectares of land located on the left side of the Cascade  complex in the direction of Demirchyan Street, to SAMVEL-10 LLC,  affiliated with the President of the Republic of Armenia R.K. and  A.O., for public construction. The aforementioned resolution was  adopted by the government on September 6, 2001, and ratified by  President R.K. on the same day. Two land lease agreements were signed  between the Yerevan Municipality and the Director of Samvel-10 LLC  M.Kh., to which a handwritten clause 29 was added, granting the  lessee the preemptive right to directly purchase the land. On  November 12, 2001, Bystraya Karta LLC was registered in the name of  A.O.'s daughter, V.O.  Although the lease agreement for the  aforementioned property with Samvel-10 LLC was concluded for fifty  years, approximately one month after the property was leased, on  November 14, 2001, Yerevan Mayor R.N. made another decision to  alienate from Samvel-10 LLC 4 hectares of land located in the area  adjacent to Acharyan and Tsarav Aghbyur Streets, as well as 2  hectares of land located to the left of the Cascade in the direction  of Demirchyan Street, through direct sale at the cadastral value,  i.e., for a total of 53 million 414 thousand drams. Based on this  decision, proceeding from the pre-emptive right arising from the  terminated lease agreement, an agreement for the alienation of the  land plots was concluded with Samvel- 10 LLC at the prices specified  in the decision. The commercial organization's ownership rights were  registered in the state registry. On December 11, 2001, an official  land purchase and sale agreement was signed between Fast Card LLC,  founded in the name of A.O.'s daughter, and Samvel-10 LLC. The sale  price of the land was listed at 13,800,000 drams, which exceeded the  purchase price of a similar property from the Yerevan Municipality by  only 15,200 drams. On the same day, December 11, 2001, a purchase and  sale agreement was signed for a 2-hectare land plot on the left side  of Cascades for 39,630,000 drams.  The sale price of the land matched  the purchase price of a similar plot from the Yerevan Municipality.   Thus, the above-mentioned, particularly large-sized real estate  properties, in violation of the established procedure, without  holding a public auction, were first leased with a pre-emptive right,  and then alienated through direct sale to companies affiliated with  R.K. A.O. On December 15, 2003, another 3.94 hectares of land located  in the area adjacent to Acharyan and Tsarav Aghbyur Streets were  alienated through direct sale to Fast Card LLC by the Municipality of  Yerevan for 13 million 578 thousand 28 drams. As a result of the  transactions, 50% of the share of Fast Card LLC, which received  ownership rights to 7.94 hectares of land adjacent to Acharyan and  Tsarav Aghbyur Streets in Yerevan for 27 million drams, was  transferred as a gift to R.K.'s son, S.K., on November 15, 2004.

On March 28, 2008, a land acquisition agreement was signed between  the Yerevan Municipality and Fast Kart LLC, according to which  another 3,822.5 square meters of land adjacent to Acharyan and Tsarav  Aghbyur Streets were acquired from Fast Kart LLC for 17,292,990  drams. This brought the total area of the acquired land to 8.3218.5  hectares.

Regarding another illegally acquired 2-hectare plot of land located  on the left side of the Cascade complex in Yerevan, in the direction  of Demirchyan Street, on March 9, 2004, former Yerevan Mayor Yer.Z. A  decision was made to exchange land plots, according to which a  2-hectare plot of land located on the left side of the Cascade  complex, owned by Aygedzor LLC, was exchanged for a state-owned plot  of land of the same size in the same area. The 2-hectare plot of land  was then divided into four separate parcels, for which separate state  title deeds were issued. On March 13, 2018, the land plots located at  Antarayin 186/7 in Yerevan, with an area of 0.733 hectares, and at  Antarayin 186/8 in Yerevan, with an area of 0.200 hectares, were  alienated to Garden Residence LLC for a total of 313 million 431  thousand drams. On September 6, 2021, the land plots located at  Antarayin 186/6 in Yerevan, with an area of 0.763 hectares, and at  Antarayin 186/5 in Yerevan, with an area of 0.304 hectares, were  alienated to a foreign citizen for a total of 1 billion 428 million  500 thousand drams.

R.K., continuing his criminal activity with A.O., conspired with  others to acquire the rights to real estate located at 8 Paronyan  Street in Yerevan through an affiliated company.

Thus, on December 23, 1999, by decision, the real estate located at 8  Paronyan Street in Yerevan was transferred to the ownership of  Yeraspasarkum CJSC of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the  Republic of Armenia. Bypassing the privatization procedure for state  property through a tender, on September 4, 2001, the government  issued a decision removing the real estate located at 8 Paronyan  Street in Yerevan from Yeraspasarkur CJSC and, as state property,  transferring it to the disposal of government officials. A similar  decision authorized the sale of real estate at 8 Paronyan Street for  54,000 drams and 40 million drams in exchange for the repayment of  obligations to Samvel-10 LLC, affiliated with JSC R.K., ratified the  aforementioned government decision.

Having acquired the property at 8 Paronyan Street in a transaction  concluded on November 9, 2001, the director of Samvel-10 LLC  transferred it to Aygedz, a company founded by A.O. and his wife, who  is affiliated with R.K., the current President of the Republic of  Armenia, for 40 million drams in an official transaction on December  11, 2001.

Furthermore, S.M. (Stepan Mayrapetyan - ed.), an individual  affiliated with R.K., established Toyota Yerevan LLC on May 9, 2006,  with the aim of establishing a representative office for Toyota LLC  in the Republic of Armenia. To ensure the smooth operation of Toyota  Yerevan LLC and the acquisition of land plots belonging to the  Republic of Armenia at a price below market value, S.M. As a  particularly large bribe, he registered 30% of the shares of the  above-mentioned company in the name of S.K., the son of the President  of the Republic of Armenia R.K. In exchange, the former Minister of  Defense of the Republic of Armenia S.S., acting on his own  instructions and using his powers against the interests of the  service, agreed to alienate a land plot of 1,194 hectares located at  22 Admiral Isakov Avenue in the Malatia- Sebastia district of  Yerevan, intended for the construction of a scientific and industrial  station, with a market value of 645 million 920 thousand drams,  granted to the Ministry of Defense with the right of gratuitous  (permanent) use, to A.A. at a disproportionately low price of only  119 million 400 thousand drams. As a result of a series of  transactions, the aforementioned real estate was sold to  Toyota-Yerevan LLC for 180 million drams. Then R.K. It was ensured  that the land plot with an area of 9816 square meters and a market  value of 747 million 950 thousand drams was transferred to Toyota  Yerevan LLC for 196 million 320 thousand drams through direct sale.