EU Delegation’s Grant Program Coordinator arrested in Yerevan

Marine Papyan, Grant Program Coordinator of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Armenia, has been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement of funds on a grand scale.

According to the Investigative Committee, Marine Papyan misappropriated those amounts from the EU Delegation’s allocated grant funds.

As the Investigative Committee reported, a certain public organization (the name unspecified) participated in the EU Delegation’s grant contest in 2008. Following the contest, a grant contract was concluded for a couple of years and a grant sum was transferred to the organization’s account. However, the organization failed to comply with its contractual commitments. The organization chairman has been accused of misappropriation of funds amounting to AMD 67,335 million (approximately USD 135,000) – News.am publication reads.

The investigative agency noted that the organization had drafted and submitted to the EU, documents containing false information on the validity of expenses. The head of public organization has been charged under paragraph 3, part 1, Article 178 (fraud committed on a large scale), as well as Part 2, Article 325 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (forgery, sale or use of documents, stamps, seals, forms, vehicle plate numbers, committed by a group of individuals by prior collusion). As ‘Novosti Armenia’ has reported today, the damage has already been indemnified.

Marine Papyan was arrested on 26 April. 13 Other individuals are also suspected of involvement. Three of them have been put on the wanted list. They have also been accused of misappropriation of grant funds allocated by the EU Delegation to Armenia, as well as of abetting fraud and falsification of documents.