Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee did not explain why it searched the offices of the Yerevan municipality’s Department of Architecture and Urban Development. The online outlet FactorTV reported that its officers carried packaged objects as they left the building after the search.
The committee reported the arrests of five individuals later in the day. It did not identify any of them or give any details of the investigation.
“One of them is an official from the mayor’s office who was charged with receiving a bribe,” a spokeswoman for the law-enforcement agency, Marina Ohanjanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. She did not say who the other arrested suspects are.
Mayor Tigran Avinian’s office did not react to the arrests. The department in question is empowered to allocate municipal land and authorize construction there. It employs more than 50 people.
The department is currently run by an acting chief, Hayk Muradian, appointed a year ago. Avinian described it at the time as the busiest municipal body which is struggling to meet legal deadlines for processing construction applications.