Egiazaryan: murder of deputy head of Armenian police was corruption-motivated

Gurgen Egiazaryan, former KGB deputy chairman, has stated to journalists that the murder of Gevork Mgeryan, deputy head of Armenian police, could be linked with his former work at the Department for Issuance of Visas and Passports.

Mr Egiazaryan believes that there, at the Department, the young colonel could come across facts of laundering large sums of money, which could become the murder motive. With account of the sums of laundered money, Egiazaryan has expressed his conviction that Mgeryan's murder will be never solved, unless somebody appears to state that he has killed Gevork Mgeryan for some everyday reason.

The crime opening is also hampered, as Egiazaryan believes, by police passiveness, which is engaged, instead of performing their duties, exclusively in prosecution of the opposition.

The Armenian edition "Aikakan Zhamanak" writes that the Department for Issuance of Visas and Passports by its profitability is ranked equal to such industries like copper, molybdenum and gold extraction.

"Tens of thousands people from Georgia received Armenian passports for huge money in order to have a chance to go to Russia and get employment there. That is, often former criminals searched for grave crimes, change nationality and become Armenians," the newspaper writes.

See earlier reports: "Freedom House: Armenia's democracy indicators get worse".