An official from Armenia’s State Cadastre Committee has been charged with accepting a bribe in exchange for ensuring the registration of unauthorized buildings using falsified data, the Anti-Corruption Committee reported.
The investigation revealed that a group of private entrepreneurs, certified as cartographers, geodesists, surveyors, and land planners by the Cadastre Committee, had conspired to accept bribes from citizens in Artashat, Ararat Province. In return, they falsified the quantitative and qualitative data of illegal structures and uploaded this information into the Cadastre's digital system.
A portion of the bribe was transferred to an official within the Cadastre Committee to secure smooth registration of these constructions under false pretenses.
Additionally, the investigation found that with assistance from a local planner and a former employee of the Artashat municipality’s urban development department, these private entrepreneurs fabricated project documents for a residential home and auxiliary buildings belonging to another citizen using forged architectural and planning instructions.
Six individuals have been charged in connection with the above actions.
The Cadastre official is charged under Article 435, Part 2, Clause 3 of Armenia’s Criminal Code (accepting a bribe), and has been placed in detention. Two private entrepreneurs face charges of facilitating bribery, accepting bribes in the private sector, and collectively forging and using fake documents. One of them is in pre-trial detention, while the other is under house arrest.
Charges have also been brought against the citizen who paid the bribe and others involved in fabricating the documents.
The investigation is now complete, and the case has been forwarded to Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court with an indictment.
Note: An individual accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court ruling, in accordance with Armenian law.
