Funds for Social Support Embezzled in Lanjik Community for Years

The Shirak regional prosecutor's office has revealed information regarding the embezzlement of funds intended for social support in the Lanjik community of Shirak Province through due legal oversight of the pre-trial criminal proceedings.

According to materials prepared by the Ani Division of the National Police, it was found that the former head of the Lanjik community, who was responsible for managing the community budget and ensuring its targeted use, signed financial documents to withdraw a total of approximately 4,200,000 AMD from the community budget during the years 2013-2017. These funds were meant for socially vulnerable or large families as well as lonely elderly individuals, a total of 44 beneficiaries, but were never allocated to them.

Some of the beneficiaries have already reported to the police and provided explanations indicating they were completely unaware of the withdrawal of funds from the community budget in their names. This implies that factual data have been obtained regarding the apparent embezzlement of funds during the mentioned period using official position.

Considering that the prepared materials apparently contain elements of the crime stipulated in Article 179, Part 3, Point 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, the prosecutor of the Shirak regional prosecutor's office has decided to initiate criminal proceedings on the basis of these criminal characteristics. The case has been forwarded to the Shirak Regional Investigative Department for further investigation.

This information has been provided by the Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia.