Yerevan court puts former deputy economy minister under house arrest

The anti-corruption court in Yerevan has placed former Deputy Economy Minister Ani Ispiryan, who is involved in a high-profile case of fraud, under house arrest for two months, Report informs referring to Armenian media.

The decision on the preventive measure was announced on February 2 morning.

A criminal case was opened against a number of officials of the Ministry of Economy and representatives of the private sector on January 31. According to investigators, as part of the tender “Creation of a bank for public investment programs,” officials entered into a conspiracy with the head of one of the companies, creating artificial obstacles to the participation of its competitor.

As a result, the company that submitted an application three times more expensive - 392 million drams (almost $100,000) - won. Later it became known that Synergy was the company in question. The company director Ashot Hovhannisyan, a former employee of the company, the daughter-in-law of the Speaker of Parliament Ani Gevorkyan, and the head of the department of public investment policy of the Economy Ministry Liliya Sirakanyan have been arrested in connection with the case.