YEREVAN. – The capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on Thursday made a decision on extending for two more months the remanding in custody of former ranking security official Vachagan Ghazaryan, who was also former head of security of Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan, Ghazaryan’s attorney Armen Harutyunyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Ghazaryan had been remanded in custody once before on June 27. But one month later, he was released on a 1bn-dram (approx. $2,100,000) bail. The prosecutor’s office, however, had appealed this decision and, as a result, a decision was made to remand him in custody yet again; and he is in custody already for a month.
On June 27, criminal charges were filed against him, and for withholding—in his asset declaration submitted to the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials of Armenia—the information on the true amount of his funds, as well as for getting enriched illicitly.
On June 20, a total of AMD 35 million, $1,110,400 and €230,500 were found in Vachagan Ghazaryan’s apartment in downtown Yerevan. And on June 25, Ghazaryan had cashed out $50,000 from his account in a bank, as well as $120,000 and AMD 436 million from his account in another bank, whereupon, however, he was detained and taken to the National Security Service.
The investigation had revealed that Vachagan Ghazaryan had not declared AMD 460 million, $1,272,900, and €218,000 in his asset declarations for 2017 and 2018. In addition, the increase in this former official’s assets had considerably exceeded his lawful income, and it was not reasonably substantiated.
