Violations Discovered in the Land Auction Process Linked to the Deputy Mayor of Masis

The Ararat regional prosecutor's office submitted claims to the Anti-Corruption Court on August 5, 2026, demanding the annulment of the land auction conducted on August 6, 2007, for a 0.57 ha area, and the auction on June 24, 2009, for a 750 sqm area in the communities of Masis and Jermuk, as well as the application of annulment consequences. This information was shared by the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia.

An investigation conducted by the Ararat regional prosecutor's office as part of the state (community) interests protection study revealed several violations in the land acquisition process associated with the deputy mayor of Masis, Kh. A., and individuals connected to him. The total area of the illicitly auctioned lands amounts to 95.5 ha.

The investigation has established that individuals who held the position of mayor of Masis at diverse times, along with deputy mayor Kh. A. and Kh. A.'s uncle, M. A., who held high positions in the State Revenue Committee from 2000 to 2018, aimed to achieve desired outcomes by misusing their official powers, transferring several communal properties through formal auctions personally to themselves.

Subsequently, Kh. A. allegedly engaged in money laundering to conceal, disguise, and eliminate traces of the properties acquired through criminal means. The inspection revealed that on June 8, 2004, M. G., the president of the board of the 'Union of Volunteers of Armenia' public organization, misused his powers contrary to the organization’s interests by providing a 500 sqm plot from a 16,742 sqm land adjacent to the Kanaker HPP to M. A., who held high positions in the State Revenue Committee.

The Ararat regional prosecutor's office, having discovered signs of other alleged crimes while exercising oversight over the legality of the criminal proceedings underway in the Investigative Committee, reported the apparent crime to the Anti-Corruption Committee.