Ijevan Mayor Vardan Ghalumyan has been charged with “abuse of official authority” (Criminal Code, Article 308) after it was revealed that he allowed the wife of a friend he hired in 2016 to head the municipality’s budgetary department to miss work for one year and still get paid.

According to a statement released by the Investigative Committee (IC), the unnamed woman remained on the books from October 1, 2017 until October 1, 2018, even though she had moved to Yerevan.

The IC has also charged the head of the budgetary department with ordering the payment of salary to a person hired as a journalist but who never showed up for work from 2016-2018.

The budgetary department head has been charged with embezzlement.

Ijevan, with a population of some 21,000, is the capital of Armenia's northeastern Tavush Province.