Ex-Hrazdan Mayor Illegally Alienated 11 Hectares of Forest Land

The preliminary investigation of a criminal proceeding initiated in the RA Anti-Corruption Committee has substantiated that the former head of the Hrazdan community of the RA Kotayk region, together with the head of the relevant department of the municipality and with the assistance of two individuals, illegally alienated a forest land plot with a total area of 11 hectares.

Specifically, the aforementioned competent officials of the Hrazdan municipality sold through a sham auction a 11-hectare land plot of community ownership, which included 9.79 hectares of specially protected land for a recreation zone, as well as a total of 1.21 hectares of state-owned and non-alienable forest land included in the restrictions of Article 60 of the RA Land Code. Moreover, the former head of the community concealed the fact of selling the land plot from the members of the council of elders, and no decision was made by the council of elders to alienate the land plot.

The preliminary investigation also revealed that applications for participation in the auction were accepted from two individuals, even though they had no intention of participating in the auction or acquiring that land plot. After that, on July 7, 2008, the aforementioned officials of the Hrazdan municipality who conducted the auction organized a sham auction, in which the participants were not actually present and did not make any auction bids, while the officials drew up a false protocol on the sale of the land plot by auction, in which they entered information inconsistent with reality, alleging that one of the auction participants had offered the highest price of 41 million AMD at the auction, to whom the said land plot was subsequently alienated.

For the commission of the aforementioned crimes, the former head of the Hrazdan community and the head of the municipality department have been charged under Article 308, Part 2, and Article 314, Part 1 of the former RA Criminal Code, and the two individuals who assisted them - under Article 38-308, Part 2, and Article 38-314, Part 1 of the same code.

The criminal prosecution against the former head of the Hrazdan community has been terminated. The latter has been released from criminal liability on non-exculpatory grounds, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The preliminary investigation regarding the head of the Hrazdan municipality department and the two individuals who assisted him has been completed, and the case materials with the indictment have been sent to the RA Anti-Corruption Court.