On July 25, 2019 a criminal case was initiated in the Investigative Department of the RA NSS against the officials of "Kosh" penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice on the cases for implementation and not implementation of actions within their authority, taking bribe in large amount, giving bribe to an official in large amount.

 

Later, the criminal case was passed to the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia and during the preliminary investigation it was proved by means of evidence that L. B.,  the former head of the institution, implemented illegal actions in favor to the convicts, namely, not reporting cases of violations in the penitentiary institution, not undertaking measures aimed at detecting prohibited items, for providing privileged conditions for some convicts, he received  bribe in a large amount from H.K, a convict supported from the criminal world and having authority within the convicts.

 

In particular, it turned out that at the initiative of H. K., former convict A. H. together with L.B., the former head of "Kosh" penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, reached to an agreement in by telephone on September 17, 2019, met him at a car washing center on Armenakyan Street, Nork-Marash administrative district of Yerevan and transferred in his car the bribe amounting to 700,000 AMD. Immediately after the act both of them were caught by the employees of NSS.

 

Besides, it was substantiated during the preliminary investigation that the former head of the penitentiary institution, abusing his position, appointed his neighbor to the position of the Specialist in the Security Department of the penitentiary institution on March 2018, providing him with the utility of an official car of the penitentiary institution. Abusing his official position, L. B. verbally instructed the latter to follow his personal instructions instead of going to work in the Security Department and serve as his personal driver. The mentioned person held the position of the specialist in the security department of the penitentiary institution, from March 28, 2018 to September 25, 2019, receiving salary and bonuses according to the staff list, but he, factually, did not go to work, instead performed the duties of private driver of the Head of the penitentiary institution. During the entire period of time, however, statements have been compiled containing false information for the calculation of working hours confirming the submission of the job to the appointment position, which were confirmed by the head of the penitentiary. Based on the false documents with that content, a total of 2.4 million AMD was transferred to his credit card account as a salary and bonus for the mentioned period. In this way, a large amount of state funds were stolen.

 

L. B., the former head of the “Kosh” penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice, has been charged with committing publicly dangerous acts under Article 311, Part 3, Point 3, Article 314, Part 1, Article 179, Part 2, Points 1 and 3 of the RA Criminal Code and detention was chosen as a preventive measure, which was later replaced by bail, which was appealed by cassation.

 

In addition, as a means of compensation for the damage, his real estate and vehicle were seized.

 

Criminal case was initiated against two other people, convicts of the same penitentiary institution, H. K. under Article 312, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code, and A. H., a former convict of the same penitentiary, close to the latter under Article 38-312, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code.

 

The investigation is over. After the confirmation of the indictment by the prosecutor in charge of supervision of the criminal case, the case was sent to the Court of First Instance of Yerevan City for examination on the merits.

 

Notice: Every person suspected in or charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent unless proved guilty in the manner prescribed by the RA Criminal Procedure Code and unless the verdict comes into legal force.