Former Governor of Syunik Surik Khachatryan declared wanted

Former Governor of Syunik Province Surik Khachatryan has been declared wanted by authorities on charges of abuse of power, falsification and embezzlement.

According to the Special Investigations Service, in 2011-2012 the then-governor illegally ordered the Mayor of Noravan (a town in Syunik) to give metal pipelines belonging to the community to his brother.

The Mayor, Lavrentik Arakelyan, illegally provided Khachatryan’s brother with the property worth more than 5,000,000 drams. He did not file an alienation request to the city council, a standard procedure which is required when alienating town property.

In addition, in 2016 the governor ordered the mayor of Akner to alienate public land through a fake auction to a person named by him. The mayor filed fake documentations on alienating the 0,43 ha land area to a Ashot Gevorgyan.

On November 19th, 2019 authorities declared Khachatryan wanted. An arrest warrant was issued the same day.

Lavrentik Arakelyan and Ashot Gevorgyan are also charged.