“All accusations are nonsense, I haven’t committed any crime to be accused by anyone. That is just empty talk, time will tell, let’s wait and see. I am clean, surely. All those accusations are nonsense, plus a bit of ravings,” Alik Sargsyan, an adviser to the President of the Republic of Armenia and a former Chief of Police of the Republic of Armenia, said today in response to a question of www.aravot.am. Mr. Sargsyan was in a hurry and didn’t wish to answer any other questions.
Let us remind that Margar Ohanyan, a former chief of traffic police, said during a trial of gas misappropriation case that the case was caused by the relationship between former Chief of Police Alik Sargsyan and him, which had become tense since April 2011. And the tension, as Margar Ohanyan stated, was caused by disagreements on certain staff appointments. “When I assumed the office of the chief of traffic police, the additional revenues were 1billion 700 million AMD, when I was in office, they increased to 4 billion 850 million AMD. Traffic accidents decreased by 200 in 2 years; as a result of that the number of the dead decreased by 100, the number of the injured decreased by 300. If I had allowed misappropriating gas in the traffic police, you can be sure such results would never have been yielded, all the witnesses’ testimonies 100% confirmed in court that the work of the traffic police hadn’t been disrupted for one moment because of gas coupons or for any other reasons. I want someone to explain to me what constituted my abuse of office, which also caused serious consequences mentioned in Article 308, Section 2. It is obvious revenge against me. I haven’t taken an action that is forbidden by law,” Margaryan Ohanyan said during the February 21 trial. It was published in the press recently that Vardges Hovakimyan, a former governor of Ararat, who is accused of abuse of office, falsification and negligence, had stated after a court session that it would be better, if 400 million AMD given to the regional administration in 2007 for renovation were also thoroughly checked, since, according to him, very little work had been done for that money. “Alik Sargsyan pocketed it and spent on the restaurant New Artashat,” Hovakimyan said, adding that he was working on revealing the truth.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
