"Hraparak": There are criminal proceedings related to the Ministry of Defense

The “Hraparak” newspaper writes: “A number of criminal cases related to the Ministry of Defense are being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee. One of them concerns the acquisition of 10 snowmobiles. The point is that the Ministry of Defense purchased European-made snowmobiles at a price several times higher than the market value. The same snowmobiles, but at a much lower price and in a small quantity, only 2, were purchased by the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine. Criminal proceedings have been initiated in connection with the acquisition of the snowmobiles. We asked Deputy Minister of Defense Karen Brutyan, who coordinates the supply sector, about the snowmobiles, as this was the shortest way to verify the information. However, he congratulated our army on its holiday and urged them to write him a letter, promising to answer all questions if they do not contain secrets. Our source at the Anti-Corruption Committee confirmed that yes, there is such a proceeding, but it was not initiated recently, but in 2024.

The second of the proceedings concerns the shortcomings that occurred during the construction work carried out by the Ministry of Defense. There are 7 defendants in this case, most of whom are in custody. It turns out that there were major abuses related to the concreting work. The name of Deputy Chief of the General Staff Karen Grigoryan is being circulated, who worked closely with the former head of the capital construction department, Vahagn Stepanyan. Stepanyan was considered one of Minister Papikyan's people in the system, and was recently dismissed.

We learned some details about this case. It turns out that a private construction company, whose name is being clarified, built a road in the Jermuk sector by order of the army, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Grigoryan demanded that the command of military unit N sign papers and accept the construction. The head of the rear and his deputy refused to accept the work of the builders, saying that the road was a disgrace and the work done did not correspond to the money that was paid for it. Naturally, the army leadership did not like this. The head of the rear was immediately classified as undesirable, and his deputy was dismissed from work, explaining that the term of his contract had expired. Later, we found out that the dismissed person was Grenik Papoyan.

In other words, builders and suppliers are more valued by Defense Minister Papikyan than the military, and sticking up for them is fraught with serious consequences.

Our sources inform that a similar incident also occurred in the Second Army Corps sector. The commander of the Second Army, Garegin Poghosyan, also refused to accept shoddy construction, but the incident was later resolved. We also have information that news of shoddy construction reached Pashinyan and at least two structures, the Anti-Corruption Committee and the National Security Service, are now “sitting on the Ministry of Defense” - intensive inspections are being carried out, but no major violations have been found, since both the suppliers and the contractor worked very “competently”;