Defense Ministry Officials Charged with Embezzlement and Official Forgery; Investigation Concluded

The Armenian Ministry of Defense Military Police has reported that based on materials received from them, a criminal case initiated by the Anti-Corruption Committee has concluded its investigation. It has been established that an individual who held the position of head of the automotive and Logistics Services of the Ministry of Defense's military unit No. N, misused their official powers with the assistance of a battalion commander and several other individuals to embezzle official documents containing evidently false information between January 2024 and April 2025.

During this period, instead of allocating service vehicles for medical personnel dispatched to various military hospitals, the aforementioned official authorized their subordinates to prepare relevant travel orders to obtain and submit gasoline fuel coupons to him, heeding the doctors' requests to travel by personal cars for some missions.

To execute this directive, the battalion commander created travel orders for various hospital trips, which were transferred to drivers who input false information regarding the non-performed routes and other details. Subsequently, based on those identical travel orders, gasoline and diesel fuel coupons were handed over to the Ministry of Defense official and the battalion commander.

As a result, during the specified timeframe, a total of 1720 liters of gasoline and diesel fuel coupons were obtained based on the falsified travel orders. Out of these, 590 liters were allocated to doctors traveling on official assignments in private cars, while the embezzled 1130 liters were personally controlled by the official, causing a loss of 514,550 Armenian drams to the state.

Charges of embezzlement and official forgery have been filed against the Ministry of Defense official under articles 256 (part 2, points 2 and 3) and 445 (part 2) of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Charges have also been presented against the battalion commander who assisted him and one of the drivers involved in the official forgery. The financial loss to the state has been fully recovered during the investigation.

The investigation of the criminal case has now concluded, and the materials have been submitted to the supervising prosecutor for confirmation and referral to court.