Criminal Proceedings Against Arthur Aghabekyan Have Been Terminated

The criminal case initiated against former Deputy Prime Minister of Artsakh and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the 'Martik' Foundation, Arthur Aghabekyan, has been terminated. This was reported to NEWS.am by Naira Harutyunyan, head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the RA Investigative Committee.

According to the investigator's decision, the criminal proceedings against Aghabekyan, initiated on August 29, 2018, under the first point of the third part of Article 179 of the RA Criminal Code (embezzlement in particularly large amounts), have been suspended, and the preventive measure of not leaving the country has been lifted due to the absence of a criminal act in his actions.

Furthermore, no criminal proceedings were initiated against Aghabekyan under the second part of Article 214 of the RA Criminal Code (abuse of authority by officials of commercial or other organizations, leading to severe consequences) based on the acceptance of an amnesty act.

It is noteworthy that damages amounting to approximately 63,000,000 AMD have been returned.

As a reminder, a criminal case regarding apparent misappropriation within the 'Martik' Foundation was initiated following a complaint by former Yerevan City Council member Anahit Bakhshetyan in July 2018. The misappropriations were recorded from 2012 to 2016, resulting in an estimated theft of 54,083,860 AMD from the foundation's assets through wasteful methods. On August 29, Aghabekyan was charged under the first point of the third part of Article 179 of the RA Criminal Code.