Criminal case launched for suspected crime in equipment procurement for Ajapnyak metro station project: Hetq
ArmInfo. A criminal case has been launched in relation to a potential crime committed during the ordering and procurement of equipment for the Ajapnyak metro station project. The investigation, conducted by the Investigative Committee, is based on indications of official negligence (Article 446, Part 1 of the Criminal Code), according to the online newspaper Hetq.
The publication recalls that since 2019, the capital's authorities have been declaring their intention to construct the Ajapnyak metro station. During the 2023 Yerevan City Council elections, the ruling Civil Contract party promised to begin construction of the Ajapnyak metro station in 2024 and finish it in 2028. As of December 2025, only the metro station design was ready. The preparation of these documents also did not go smoothly.
Tigran Mushegyan, head of the transport and metro department of the Municipal Investment Program Implementation Department, had revealed that the metro design documentation was incomplete and that the company responsible for the design had been overpaid. The purchase and sale agreement was revised: the scope of work was reduced, but the price of 1.8 billion drams was not reduced. As a result, the Yerevan community suffered millions of drams in damages. The official contacted law enforcement agencies, and following the instructions of the Prosecutor's Office, the Criminal Police launched an investigation into the Municipality's Program Implementation Unit. On November 9, 2021, an agreement was signed between the Yerevan Municipality and the Russian joint-stock company Metrogiprotrans for the "Consulting services for the Preparation of Design and Estimate Documentation for the Construction of a Metro Station in the Ajapnyak District of Yerevan." Appendix 1 of the agreement describes the work to be performed by Metrogiprotrans. For 1 billion 848 million drams, the contract included the preparation of design documentation for the metro station. Clause 1.5 of Appendix 1 (the terms of reference), which is considered an integral part of the agreement, states: "Design stage" - "Design documentation."
Government Resolution No. 596-N of 2015 stipulates: "Design documentation, depending on the risk level, may be developed in a single phase (the "Working Design") or in two phases (the "Design" and "Working Documentation"). The metro station is classified as a Category 4 risk facility, and the documentation was supposed to be prepared in the two specified phases.
Earlier, Yerevan Deputy Mayor Levon Hovhannisyan reported that the design for the new metro station was prepared in December 2024. However, the official platforms publishing information on state and municipal procurement, gnumner.minfin.am and armeps.am, have not published the transfer and acceptance certificate for the services rendered. There is a contract and five separate agreements. The agreements related to payments, five of which were signed in 2023.
Hetq has revealed that the company "Metrogiprotrans" only prepared the metro station design and submitted it to the municipality. However, the construction cannot proceed without "Working Documentation." These documents serve as guidelines for the construction organization during the construction process, detailing the construction data for each structure/building. The head of transport and metro programs at the Yerevan Municipality's Department for the Implementation of Investment Programs for Construction told Hetq that the work stipulated in the technical documentation of the signed contract was not fully completed, causing the municipality to suffer.
"Metrogiprotrans only completed the work corresponding to the Project stage, while the 1.8 billion drams of financial resources stipulated by the contract were intended for the development of both the Project and the Working Documentation. In other words, the work remained unfinished," said Tigran Musheghyan. He learned of this violation in 2025, shortly after beginning his tenure at the community Program Implementation Office (PIO).
Tigran Musheghyan informed the PIO management of the aforementioned omission and proposed making the necessary adjustments to the supplementary agreement to align the technical specifications with the actual scope of work. "As a result, Agreement No. 6 was drawn up. However, since the ORP management took no practical steps to regulate or reduce the payment amount stipulated in the contract, this became an attempt to conceal the violation. This issue was not raised for discussion by the responsible agency, and as a result, the designer was paid the entire amount outlined in the contract," notes the ORP official who filed the criminal complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office.
In response to a written inquiry from Hetq, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that no criminal case had been initiated based on the complaint. By decision of the Prosecutor's Office, the complaint was forwarded to the Main Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for prompt review. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the Criminal Police is conducting investigations. On November 18, Hetq sent a written inquiry to Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan asking for information on the changes made to the contract. As of December 25, no response had been received.
At the same time, Tigran Mushegyan, head of transport and metro programs, is convinced that the Russian company's work isn't worth 1.8 billion drams. That is, the project and working documentation could have been prepared for this amount, but today the municipality is forced to bear additional costs for these documents. What is the reason for this situation? According to Tigran Mushegyan, at a minimum, it's the unprofessional approach and negligence of the officials in charge of the Yerevan Municipality, who are parties to the contract.
Hetq recalls that at the government meeting on September 18, 2025, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan inquired about the status of the Ajapnyak metro project with Mayor Tigran Avinyan. Avinyan assured that the Ajapnyak metro station project had passed all stages of assessment. "We have divided this project into three stages: construction of the tunnel section from the Barekamutyun metro station to the gorge, construction of the bridge, construction of the bridge-tunnel station, and the station itself. We will announce a tender for three lots, as we have already discussed, and informed all potential large companies about participating in these tenders. We will have a winner, and in the next stage, we will discuss the provision of financial resources. I can say that we will be able to begin work on the Ajapnyak metro station in 2026," Tigran Avinyan stated.
At the Yerevan Council of Elders meeting on December 23, the mayor announced that they were discussing the tender procedure for the station's construction with the government. "We need to adopt a separate government decision, adding special conditions regarding the metro construction tender. In reality, the scope of work is very large, and it will be very difficult to manage the construction process using our standard procedure. We have proposed to our partners in the government, who seem to be willing to follow FIDIC (a method for implementing construction projects in which large urban development projects are implemented under standard contracts developed by consultants)," Avinyan said.
Note, earlier, it was reported that part of the funds intended for the construction of the new Ajapnyak metro station was used to purchase 45 trolleybuses.