Armenia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case in which several former government officials are charged with exploiting the power of their office to privatize more than fifty hectares of land, some of it state-owned forest, in the Tzaghkadzor region.

In its announcement, the Investigative Committee (IC) writes it launched the case based on a Hetq expose entitled Former Armenian Officials and Their Associates Privatize Fifty Hectares of Forested Lands.

The article focuses on how the officials, including former Hrazdan Mayor Aram Danielyan,   former Kotayk Provincial Governor Kovalenko Shahgaldyan, and former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, used their positions to obtain the land just one month after it had been put up for auction in 2007.

Due to an April 5, 2007 government decision (422-N), of 50.48 hectares of state forest within the boundaries of the Hrazdan community, 36.48 hectares were allocated to the municipality and zoned for multi-use purposes, including residential construction. The remaining fourteen hectares were zoned as a “special preserve area” for recreational use.

The IC now states that the decision contradicts Article 4 of Armenia’s Forest Code that states that no state forest land can be sold/allocated, even to local communities. Furthermore, the zoning change contradicts several zoning clauses of Armenia’s Land Code.

The IC says that its preliminary investigation suggests that in 2006, while Kotayk Provincial Governor, Kovalenko Shahgaldyan described the land in question as “unforested” when he wrote to the Minister of Territorial Administration, requesting a zoning change.

This fudging of the truth, according to the IC, led to the 2007 government decision to rezone the bulk of the land for multi-use.

The land was later parceled out in plots and put up for auction.

The IC, in its announcement, writes:

“During the investigation, substantial evidence has been uncovered that during the process of passing Government Decision 442-N (April 5, 2007), several government officials – the former Kotayk Provincial Governor, the Head of the Provincial Authority’s Land Construction Division, the former Minister of Territorial Administration,   the former Director of Hay Antar SNOC, the former President of the State Real Estate Cadastre Committee, and other government department heads – either abused the powers of their office or failed to carry out their responsibilities, based on their group interests, and that the resulting negligence led to serious consequences. Thus, a criminal case according to Criminal Code Article 308, Part 2, has been filed by the Investigative Committee’s General Department of Especially Important Cases.”

P.S. – In 2007, Kovalenko Shahgaldyan served as Kotayk Governor, Hovik Abrahamyan was the Minister of Territorial Administration, Martoun Matevosyan was the Director of Hay Antar, and Manuk Vardanyan was President of State Real Estate Cadastre Committee.