Last week, the charges against former Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan underwent significant changes: the accusation's wording was revised to exclude the clause on "public harm caused to the state." This was announced by Kerobyan's lawyer, Vache Simonyan, at a press conference on June 10.
According to Simonyan, public harm, which forms the basis for criminal prosecution, must be reimbursed or otherwise compensated for the case to be effectively terminated.
"Firstly, damage was done to the good reputation of the Ministry of Economy. Secondly, the company Harmonia suffered a loss in the form of missed profits. Thirdly, the state was deprived of the opportunity to create a state investment program bank. Last week, the charges against Vahan Kerobyan were amended, and the public harm caused to the state was excluded from the accusation," explained Simonyan, adding that the case had been significantly "weakened."
He emphasized that such decisions are made by the prosecutor's office, not the investigative body, and clear contradictions are visible between them.
Kerobyan's lawyers also noted that one of the six defendants in the "Synergy" case was fully acquitted, while the charges against the others were partially dropped, as the alleged offense was not committed. The criminal case was terminated for six out of the eight defendants based on active repentance.
It should be recalled that former Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan was dismissed from his position on February 14 in connection with allegations of abuse of office. A court decision to place Kerobyan under house arrest for two months was made on February 16, and on April 13, the house arrest was extended for another two months.
