Epress.am News from Armenia
Witness, inspector with the traffic police’s legal division Zhirayr Karapetyan representing the victim (the traffic police), and witnesses Karen Ohanyan, Armen Sargsyan, Armen Mnatsakanyan, and Stepan Sedrakyan were examined in a Yerevan district court today in the ongoing trial of former RA Traffic Police Chief Margar Ohanyan. Recall, Ohanyan is accused of embezzling approx. 2,500 tons of gasoline.
In his testimony, Inspector Karapetyan said he is not familiar with the details of the case, while witnesses Karen Ohanyan and Armen Sargsyan, unit commanders with the traffic police, testified that they received 350 liters of gasoline a month, which they signed for after receiving the receipt.
The witnesses noted that they received their gasoline receipts from Samvel Makhmuryan, who is among the accused in the case.
After Armen Sargsyan said that their unit works 24–25 days, having 4–5 days off per month, Margar Ohanyan asked him whether there were times when they worked on their days off for which they would receive gasoline in exchange. The witness said there were such cases, explaining that on days when presidents of other countries were visiting Armenia and they were expected to escort them, or their days off coincided with days when rallies were held their unit worked and in exchange they received gasoline from Makhmuryan.
The other witness, Armen Mnatsakanyan, head of the traffic police’s finance division since 2007, testified that they received gasoline in the first 15 days of the month through budgetary funds, while for the remaining 15 days they received it through funds outside of the budget.
No discrepancies were apparent in these witnesses’ testimonies given in court and those given during the investigation; however, when it came Stepan Sedrakyan’s turn, there seemed to be discrepancies, which led prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan to motion for Sedrakyan’s two pre-trial testimonies to be made public. The motion was granted, and Judge Mkhitar Papoyan read these testimonies. Note, Sedrakyan was dismissed from work in May 2011, as he said, because of memory problems. Until then he was working as the 1st unit commander of the traffic police’s 2nd battalion.
Asked how many liters of gasoline he personally received, Sedrakyan said 500–600 liters. For the entire unit he received 3,100 liters monthly from former commander of the 2nd officers’ battalion Stepan Karakhanyan, who likewise is named as an accused in this case. The witness kept 500–600 liters for himself, gave 400 liters to his deputy, while the rest he distributed among other members of the unit.
Sedrakyan also confessed that he signed for more gasoline than he actually received. “I signed under my report. They told me write this much, and I accepted it and wrote it,” he said, noting that it was Karakhanyan who made this request.
Margar Ohanyan asked the witness why in numerous meetings with him, Sedrakyan didn’t tell him that he received less gasoline than he signed for. Sedrakyan simply said that it’s his fault.
Note, in the first testimony he gave during the pre-trial investigation Sedrakyan said the gasoline they received was less than it should’ve been but didn’t elaborate. He raised this matter with the battalion commander, who promised to supplement the shortage, but never did so.
In his second testimony, the witness refuted his earlier testimony and noted different figures for the amount of gasoline he received. In court, the witness said the gasoline provided to him was basically sufficient, adding that there were times when he paid for the gasoline from his own pocket.
Note, the courtroom in today’s hearing was full. Present were Margar Ohanyan’s friends and relatives, journalists and US Embassy in Armenia employee Steven Kessler, who was attending as an observer.
The next court date is set for Jan. 19 at 11:30 am.