Serious purges are taking place in the Armenian law enforcement bodies. Analysts say this is caused by failure of law enforcers and security services to avert a coup attempt by Sasna Tsrer group of extremists.
Chiefs of three Yerevan district police stations, first deputy head of the National Security Service and head of the investigation department have already been dismissed.
A voluntary resignation of Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanian, 39, is standing apart here. His application for resignation already satisfied by President Serzh Sargsyan said the prosecutor general wanted to resign to poor health conditions. However, as it is known, previously never complained about his health. That is why some local analysts jumped to conclusions that the resignation is connected with the coup attempt. Allegedly, Kostanian who was supposed to represent prosecution in court understood what a hard job expects him taking into account the extensive support of the rioters by the people. So, he allegedly decided to abstain from participating in predeterminedly unpopular actions that could affect his professional and personal reputation.
However, the reason of the resignation is much more trivial. For instance, local Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper reported that the matter is that at least three of numerous companies - suppliers of the Armenian defense ministry were closely tied to Gevorg Kostanian and his family.
Meanwhile, after the four-day April war in Nagorno-Karabakh, that registered numerous failures in the army, including procurements, and suppliers were subjected to inspections. It turned out then that companies close to the prosecutor general and his team and charged to supply food products to the army committed serious violations. Besides, the companies, as the newspaper says, did not pay under-table payments when signing contracts, which was completely inadmissible!
We need to remind in this connection that Gevorg Kostanian was really closely tied to the army, as before his appointment to the post of prosecutor general he was chief military prosecutor. It is worth mentioning that this spring there was a scandal: Armenian soldiers’ canned food was sold at a market in Poland.
Now, rumors are rife in Yerevan that Prosecutor General Kostanian was supposed to resign anyway, but a little bit later, probably, during a reform of the executive bodies, but preferred to do it now. Thus, it can be considered an attempt to keep distance from true reasons, making his actions look like “patriotic” or “romantic.”
Anyway, the public will never know details or scope of violations during the procurements: everything having to do with the supplies to the army is confidential.