The former head of the Hrazdan community in Kotayk Province allegedly transferred community-owned land plots to members of his family through formal auctions. Charges have been brought not only against Aram Danielyan, but also against his wife and brothers. Municipal employees are also implicated in the case, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
According to the charges, between 2002 and 2018, while serving as head of the Hrazdan community in Kotayk Province, Aram Danielyan, acting out of personal interest, sold 12 land plots in the community to persons connected to him and members of his family without meaningful bidding and at significantly undervalued prices.
The largest of the plots, measuring 2,000 square meters, was sold for 3 million drams, although its market value at the time was 8.5 million drams, Sputnik Armenia reported.
According to prosecutors, these actions caused 26 million drams in damages to the community. Charges have also been brought against Aram Danielyan’s wife, his two brothers, the head of the Hrazdan municipality’s Territorial Development, Land Cadastre and Urban Planning Department, Myasnik Kostanyan, and another employee.
All six defendants have denied the charges and refused to testify. A ban on leaving the country has been imposed on them as a preventive measure.
The criminal case is currently before the Anti-Corruption Court.
Danielyan was detained on February 26, 2019, on suspicion of large-scale embezzlement and misuse of land tax and property tax funds from the municipality during his years in office between 2015 and 2018. A criminal case against him had been launched in September 2018.
On March 1 of the same year, it became known that Danielyan had been released after paying part of the damages caused to the community — 102 million drams.
In 2022, it was also reported that Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office had filed a claim with the Anti-Corruption Court seeking confiscation of illegally obtained property from former Hrazdan mayor Aram Danielyan and two persons connected to him. The confiscation request included 11 real estate properties, shares in two LLCs and more than 156.6 million drams.
