The Investigative Committee (IC) of Armenia has forwarded to court a case involving the large-scale embezzlement of state funds allocated for the intensive orchards development program in the Ararat region.
According to the IC's press service, the case involves 12 defendants, with the amount of embezzled funds totaling 412 million drams (over 1 million USD).
The investigation revealed that the criminal scheme operated from July 2021 to March 2023. The ringleader, a resident of the Ararat region, created fake documents and submitted inflated estimates to the Ministry of Economy. Additionally, there was an attempt to embezzle an additional 757.5 million drams (around 2 million USD), which was successfully thwarted.
It's worth noting that earlier this year, two criminal cases were initiated regarding abuses of power within the Ministry of Economy of Armenia. As a result, Deputy Minister Ani Isperyan, suspected of involvement in subsidy allocation fraud, was dismissed on January 30.
On February 14, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan resigned, who also became a suspect in the criminal case. Kerobyan was placed under house arrest on February 16, with the detention period ending on June 17.
