Armenian defense officials’ detention unrelated to casualties in Karabakh fighting - spokesman
By Marine Kharatyan
A number of high-ranking officers of Armenia’s Armed Forces have been lately detained.
Among them are Major-General Melsik Chilingaryan, ex-chief of the Ammunition Division, Colonel Mher Papyan and Colonel Armen Margaryan, who are suspected of abuse of office.
According to press reports, they are suspected of over-invoicing of about two dozen product items.
According to the newspaper Zhoghovurd , the law-enforcers have offered the ex-officials to explain all the details or they will be arrested.
Tert.am inquired of Mr Artsrun Hovhannisyan about the developments.
Asked to comment on the damages caused, Hovhannisyan declined to point to specific figures He said instead that 40 officials of the Ministry have been sacked over the past years in the wake of different service probes.
“Inspections at the Ministry of Defense are carried out by different institutions, including the Control Chamber, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Presidential Oversight Service, etc.” he added.
The spokesperson did not link the detentions to the recent heavy fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
But he did not rule out the possibility of more arrests when asked to comment on future developments.
“With the criminal proceeding under way, I cannot rule out or confirm anything,” he added.
Asked whether he thinks that the losses in the four-day war could have been avoided had those officials been detained earlier, the spokesperson refrained from further evaluations.
“For me, it is absolutely wrong to link the casualties to specific detentions,” he said.