The Investigative Committee of Armenia has completed the investigation of a large-scale case of embezzlement and money laundering of around 11 million euros from one of the local banks. The main accused, wanted for more than a decade, has been extradited from Russia and will soon stand trial.
According to the materials of the criminal case initiated in September 2013, a group consisting of citizens of Iran and Armenia carried out a major fraud scheme. Acting with a preliminary agreement with the head of one of the banks operating in RA and his deputy, the criminals withdrew the funds through fake loan agreements concluded between the companies.
In August 2012, on the basis of forged documents, the first tranche of 1 million euros was transferred to the account of a company controlled by one of the members of the group. In October of the same year, the remaining amount, 9.98 million euros, was transferred to the accounts of another affiliated entity.
By March 2013, the funds were finally distributed. one part was cashed, and the other part was transferred to the personal accounts of the scheme participants. Thus, the source of the money’s origin was concealed, and the process of laundering money equivalent to a total of 5.8 billion drams was completed.
The main suspect in the case, identified as V.M., has been under international arrest since January 2015. As a result of the coordinated actions of law enforcement agencies, he was found and arrested in the territory of the Russian Federation, and on June 18, 2026, he was officially extradited to Armenia.
Currently, the latter has been charged with forgery of particularly large documents, fraud and money laundering. According to the court’s decision, house arrest was chosen as a preventive measure against him, and the indictment has already been sent to the supervising prosecutor.
It should be noted that the investigation of other members of the criminal group (A.K. and M.E.) was completed earlier. Back in 2014, the court found them guilty and sentenced them to prison.
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