In recent years, investigations and publications of “investigative journalists” on corruption-related crimes have become the basis for investigations and criminal cases for law enforcement agencies. Among them, there were publications about the private houses of the Monument (“District of the Chosen”), but there has been no progress in that criminal case for 4 years. During the discussion titled “Return of Illegal Property and Transitional Justice: Lessons and Challenges” organized by the International Center for Transitional Justice, Tirayr Muradyan, a journalist from the NGO “Investigative Journalists” (Hetq.am), mentioned, “The case of privatization of Tsaghkadzor forest lands is a positive example. High-ranking officials, including the former prime minister, had acquired forest lands. In honor of the prosecutor’s office, the decisions of the head of the community and the governor were recognized as null and void within the framework of the civil lawsuit. There is already a first judicial act regarding the return of one of the plots to the state. Hopefully, there will be no appeal and it will enter into legal force,” Tirayr Muradyan said.
He informed that they also studied the cases of closing and privatization of kindergartens in Yerevan. “Based on these data, we wrote about the questionable privatization of several dozen kindergartens. Recently, the prosecutor’s office announced a whole list of properties of illegal origin by the former mayor of Yerevan, Gagik Beglaryan. It was emphasized that the publication of Hetq.am was the basis for finding out the scope of the property of illegal origin. Gagik Beglaryan, his family members and his assistant became the owners of 4 kindergartens.”
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As an example, Tirayr Muradyan pointed to one of the recent controversial publications about the fact that Khachatur Kokobelyan’s relative bought a hydroelectric power plant for 50,000 AMD. He noted that it is assumed that such cases should also be investigated in relation to illegal property, but since the process is not sufficiently public from the point of view of legislation, we do not know much about it.
“Doubts do not disappear as a result of ignorance. Such stories are not the same. There is also a criminal case related to the former police chief’s mansion. We do not know what is the fate of other cases related to the property of illegal origin. At least our editorial office published valuable information and facts that could contribute to solving the case, bringing back what was stolen “penny by penny,” but the process is generally slowing down. It is not for us to make a judgment about it, but the end result is not so visible.” Tirayr Muradyan emphasized that today some former officials are not under the magnifying glass, and we do not hear anything from the law enforcement agencies regarding the actions of current officials, their relatives, the companies they manage, and the cases of property improvements.
Luiza Sukiasyan
