Contractors in Vayots Dzor embezzle 17 million drams

YEREVAN, August 31. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said a criminal investigation has been launched into a case involving abuse of official duties and fraud, committed by several contractors commissioned by the administration of Vayots Dzor province to improve a pathway in the resort town of Jermuk.

According to the NSS, the contract, estimated at 149.7 million drams, was signed in October, 2015. The contractors did the work in 2015-2016, but less than stipulated by the contract. They showed in the documents that they had purchased and installed expensive equipment in the pathway, costing 17 million drams, but in fact no equipment was bought and installed.

The officials of the provincial administration, who were in a commission that was to assess the volume and the quality of the work, failed to record the fraud. This allowed the contractors and the company that was in charge of technical control, to embezzle about 17 million drams.

A suspect or accused of an alleged crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to a court ruling that has entered into legal force in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia ($1 - 493.49 drams). -0-