The Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee Aghvan Hovsepyan held a working consultation. During the consultation the criminal cases initiated on abuses recorded in the process of seed and fertilizer distribution in the communities of several regions, measures taken to provide the comprehensive investigation were discussed. The RA IC Deputy Chairman Aram Tamazyan, Head of General Department of Control over Activity of Territorial Investigative Departments Tatul Petrosyan, heads of the IC regional investigative departments took part in the consultation.

In total, 49 criminal cases on abuses recorded in the process of seed and fertilizer distribution in 50 communities of several regions are under investigation of the RA IC Regional Investigative Departments. Through investigation it was found out that within two several programs of state support the communities were provided with seed and fertilizer which were to be given to farmers, in prescribed manner. However, the provided seed and fertilizer were not given to the residents involved in the list (or were given not to the extent that was planned). In some cases the money taken from the farmers for the seed and fertilizer were not formulated, regional administrations were told that the farmers could not get the planned harvest because of bad weather conditions, consequently they could not pay and the charged money was possessed by community heads.

As a result, by the Government decision N 1585-Ն “On Forgiving Debts of 2011-2016 within State Support Programs in the Republic of Armenia” the debts accumulated in the names of community residents were forgiven by the state.

The RA IC Chairman instructed to provide the full clarification of all circumstances, conduction of comprehensive, complete and objective investigation, including to find out the person who has purchased the seeds and fertilizer provided to the farmers and at what funds, the procedure of implementation of distribution, the person who was responsible for charging money and controlling it, the reason why the money charged from the farmers for fertilizer and seed was not transferred in the prescribed procedure for years and measures were not taken.

Besides, it was instructed to provide the information about the criminal cases on the mentioned cases investigated in the proceeding of several investigative departments and to properly analyze to find out whether the abuses recorded in the communities of several regions have similarities.

The RA IC Chairman emphasized the necessity of organizing the conduction of preliminary investigation of criminal cases within reasonable timeframe, as well as on the base of the evidence obtained in the result of comprehensive investigation giving appropriate criminal legal assessment as soon as possible to the actions of those having committed the alleged crime.