Arsen Karoyan, the head of the municipality’s department on public utilities, was arrested and charged by the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) with abuse of power on Tuesday. A Yerevan court refused afterwards to allow the ACC to hold Karoyan in detention pending investigation and freed him on bail instead.
As of Wednesday evening, the ACC released no details of the accusations denied by Karoyan. The latter’s lawyer, Vahagn Hakobian, said they stem from the national electric utility’s requests to supply electricity to a “particular address” which were repeatedly declined but eventually granted by Karoyan’s department.
“We still don't understand which specific actions the investigators consider abuse of power,” Hakobian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The ACC arrested last month two other senior officials from Mayor Tigran Avinian’s office. One of them headed the municipality’s Public Order Service while the other worked at a department dealing with construction permits and land allocations. Both men as well as several other individuals stand accused of bribery. The ACC has still not shed light on this criminal case.
At least two other corruption inquiries were launched into senior municipal officials last year. In July, law-enforcement authorities arrested the head of Yerevan’s northern Arabkir district, Aram Azatian, on bribery charges denied by him. Azatian, who is reportedly a figure close to Mayor Avinian, is expected to go on trial soon along with 12 other suspects.
In November, investigators raided the administration of the city’s central Kentron district and arrested four local officials on similar charges. Avinian, who is a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, is not known to have been questioned in either probe.