RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure refutes  media reports on large-scale embezzlement during road paving

ArmInfo.The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia denies media  allegations of large-scale embezzlement during road paving.

The media reported that the Audit Chamber, after conducting research,  found that the actual (real) costs for road construction amounted to  51,127,573,000 drams, but 52,452,652,000 drams were reported. This  added up to 1,325,079,000 drams, which the media claimed had been  embezzled.

Meanwhile, the Ministry emphasized that 52.4 billion drams were  allocated for road works in 2024, of which 51.1 billion drams were  for work completed in 2024, and 1.3 billion drams were for 5% of  funds retained from work completed in the previous year, which were  not accounted for as accounts payable. In the Chamber's 2024 report,  these expenses were recorded as work completed for that year, since  payments were made during 2024. Moreover, the unspent amount remains  in the state budget, so describing the amount returned to the state  budget as "embezzlement" is, at the very least, a result of  ignorance.

Furthermore, the Chamber noted a discrepancy, for which the Ministry  provided a proper clarification that there was no discrepancy between  the actual expenses based on documents and the actual expenses.

The MTUI continued, that the outstanding amount had already been  adjusted by the end of 2024. This fact was also reflected in the  document published by the Chamber, which, however, was ignored by the  media.