Embezzlement in the Ministry of Health and Labor Inspection: Criminal Case Initiated

Based on documents received from the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the State Interests Protection Department of the RA Prosecutor General's Office has investigated the procurement process for transportation fuel in the year 2019 by the Ministry of Health and Labor Inspection for state needs. To ensure the completeness of the investigation, relevant documents were requested and obtained from the Ministry as well.

The examination of the documents revealed that the Ministry of Health and Labor Inspection received vouchers for 6,620 liters and 9,930 liters of regular gasoline from the same company in April and October 2019 under a contract for "Supply of Goods for State Needs." The head of the Inspection allocated these vouchers in fixed amounts to the relevant employees of the Inspection to ensure the normal operation of its vehicles.

In order to account for the raw materials and supplies in the Inspection, a working group established by the head of the Inspection reported a shortage of 1,870 liters of gasoline vouchers on November 28, 2019. After being informed about this, on February 17, 2020, the former deputy head of the Inspection presented vouchers for the same amount of gasoline, marked "valid until 31.12.2020." However, it became clear that the gasoline vouchers received for the needs of the Inspection in 2019 did not bear the marking of validity for 2020, raising reasonable suspicion that the vouchers presented on February 17, 2020, were not identical to the missing vouchers.

Considering that factual evidence has been obtained regarding the apparent embezzlement by officials of the Ministry of Health and Labor Inspection of large-scale amounts of gasoline, totaling approximately 620,000 AMD for 1,870 liters during 2019, a criminal case has been initiated by the State Interests Protection Department of the RA Prosecutor General's Office under the characteristics of a crime described in paragraphs 1 and 3 of part 2 of Article 179 of the RA Criminal Code. The criminal case has been forwarded to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia for further investigation.