As a result of the investigative and procedural actions carried out during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case being investigated in the Investigation Department of the RA National Security Service, former Head of the Missile Troops and Artillery of the RA Armed Forces – Head of the Department, Major General Armen Harutyunyan was detained.

As a result of large-scale investigative and procedural actions, it was established that Armen Harutyunyan, the chairman of the acceptance committee of the supplied goods, within the framework of the agreement concluded between the RA Ministry of Defense and the company operating in RA, assisting the director and owner of the supplier company, jointly undertook the process of receiving property, not corresponding to the subject of the concluded agreement, in exchange for that realizing the direct intent to embezzle especially large amount of money from the RA Ministry of Defense, and for this purpose, instead of the cannon shots of the appropriate caliber provided for by the agreement, by fraudulently concealing the fact of non-compliance with the tactical and technical characteristics of the delivered property, supplied the Ministry of Defense with another type of cannon shots of Czech production for a total amount of 1.083.000 USD, equivalent to 523.089.000 AMD, which in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics, were significantly inferior to those cannon shots for which they were supplied, in particular, did not ensure the range of hitting the target, as a result of the shots, rather large shortfalls from the required norms were recorded, in terms of ballistic characteristics they did not correspond to the ballistic characteristics of cannon shots at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense and the parameters of the shooting table in force in the RA Armed Forces, therefore it was impossible when using the delivered cannons, to fire aimed shots and solve combat missions, as a result of which, on the basis of the concluded agreement, an especially large amount of 1.083.000 USD, equivalent to 523.089.000 AMD, was transferred to the company's account, which entailed grave material consequences for the state.

At the same time, it was established that the acquired shots of the given batch were also used during the 44-day war, as a result of the use of which, it was not possible to solve combat tasks, due to the fact that their tactical and technical characteristics were inferior to actual shots.

Within the framework of the same case, charge was brought against the director and the owner of the supplier company.

The preliminary investigation continues, appropriate investigative and other procedural actions are being taken in the direction of establishing the full range of persons involved in the corruption scheme and initiating criminal prosecutions against them.

Note: The suspect or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent as long as his guilt is not proven in a manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure of RA - by the court decision entered into legal force.