Cases of Employees Who Do Not Attend Work but Receive Salaries in Shirak

The Shirak Region Prosecutor's Office has studied the materials of criminal cases initiated in public schools located in the region on the signs of blatant corruption, aiming to implement measures for eliminating the causes and contributing conditions of these crimes.

The investigation revealed that there have been many cases where, as part of a criminal scheme, individuals have been appointed to positions of educational support staff in schools, who have either attended work not at all or only partially, and have failed to fully or adequately perform their work duties.

Despite this, officials of the educational institutions with appropriate powers have drawn up and approved false timekeeping documents containing fictitious information about these individuals' attendance at work and actual work hours. Based on such falsified documents, salaries or other payments have been issued in their name, which have been embezzled through methods of misappropriation or waste.

The patterns established from the examination of these criminal cases have raised reasonable suspicions that such manifestations may also be prevalent in other educational institutions in the region. Accordingly, and in consideration of the need to discuss the issue of filing a lawsuit for the protection of state interests, including the implementation of delegated powers through financial means directed by the state to educational institutions, the Shirak Region Prosecutor, on August 14, 2019, requested the Shirak Regional Governor to provide lists of educational support staff included in the staff lists of educational institutions operating under the supervision of the Regional Governor's Office for the year 2019.

The received information and documents were immediately forwarded to the Shirak Regional Division of the Police of the Republic of Armenia with instructions to carry out operational and investigative measures to clarify the circumstances of the presence, attendance at work, and performance of tasks by the individuals listed.

As a result of the operational and investigative measures undertaken, data containing signs of similar crimes were identified in seven schools operating in the region, pertaining to employees' non-attendance at work or failure to carry out duties defined by the staff list. In this regard, at the instruction of the Shirak Region Prosecutor's Office, materials are being prepared by the units of the Shirak Regional Division of the Police in accordance with Articles 180-181 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.

Considering that such situations may have broader implications and geography, the instruction of the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Armenia is to initiate similar investigations in all public educational institutions across the country. As a result of these, should sufficient data be available, a legally prescribed criminal procedure will ensure a legal assessment of the actions of officials involved in these alleged corruption schemes and will aim to eliminate the conditions contributing to the issue.