Armenian Officials Held Over ‘Bribery Scam’

December 28, 2016
The National Security Service headquarters in Yerevan

The National Security Service headquarters in Yerevan (Source: RFE/RL)

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)””Two senior officials from the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs have been arrested on suspicion of presiding over corrupt practices in the payment of state benefits to disabled persons.

The National Security Service (NSS) said on Tuesday that the suspects are the chief and another senior official of a ministry department that certifies the extent of disabilities suffered by Armenian citizens and thereby determines the amount of their benefits.

The NSS said the department’s divisions in various parts of Armenia extorted between 20,000 and 40,000 drams ($42-$84) from applicants in return for issuing such documents. Their arrested boss received a part of the bribes, it claimed in the statement.

NSS officers were said to have confiscated over 2.5 million drams ($5,200) and $600 in cash from the department chief’s office. The security service described the money as the “latest installment”

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