Armenian police have launched an investigation into the recent activities of the mayor of Malishka, a rural community of some 4,500 in Vayots Dzor.

Mayor Mher Movsisyan is suspected of hiring his wife and two sons as trainers at the local gym and collectively paying them 850,000 drams per month even though they never showed up for work.

Police investigators also claim that the mayor embezzled funds in a scheme in which he spent 29 million drams, allegedly to renovate the municipal building. The work was never finished.