Armenian Prosecutor's Office reveals Defence Ministry's machinations under Serzh Sargsyan

The Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia initiated a criminal case on the basis of the materials submitted by the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia, press service of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Armenia said in a statement.

The case concerns the sale of a building by the Defence Ministry at a drastically reduced price and the illegal sale of land plots as municipal property, Caliber.Az reports citing Armenian media.

According to the materials of the case, in May 2004 Credit-Yerevan Bank received a certificate of ownership of the building with 441.01 square meters on Moldovakan street.

In June 2004 the bank within the framework of bankruptcy case sold the building to Ministry of Defence against its debts. The bank owed the ministry $500 thousand. A month later the ministry sold the building to Anelik Bank for only $90,000.

The Anti-Corruption Committee is investigating the reasons behind the sale far below the market price.

Besides, by the government's decision the mentioned territory of 525 square meters was separated from one of the municipal parks ("Tigran Mets"). Previously, by the decision of the mayor of Yerevan dated April 28, 2004, this plot was included in the list of territories that are not subject to sale.

Despite this, according to the general plan of Yerevan, adopted in 2005, this plot was excluded from the prohibited territories and in 2006 on the basis of the opinion of the chief architect of Yerevan, the plot was sold to Anelik Bank for 2 million 375 thousand drams (at the current rate of more than $6 thousand). In 2007, by the decision of the city mayor, another 274.85 square meters of public territory was sold to the bank.

In 2018, Anelik Bank sold the mentioned real estate to two citizens (A. V. and Ar. V.) for 135 million 556 thousand drams (about $347 thousand at the current exchange rate).

It should be noted  that Serzh Sargsyan was the Minister of Defence in 1993-95 and 2000-07.