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The RA Prosecutor General’s Office has confirmed the indictment in a criminal case involving Armenia’s third president Serzh Sargsyan and sent the material to Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, the Prosecutor’s Office reported.

On 4 December the Special Investigative Service charged the ex-president with organizing an alleged embezzlement of government funds along with a group of other officials through misuse of official position. The case involves former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan and owner of Flash Company Barsegh Beglaryan. The indictment said that Sargsyan used his official position in January and February 2013, when he was president, to steer a government fuel contract to a particular company that cost the state an additional 489 million drams (roughly $1 million) in subsidies. A signature bond has been imposed on Serzh Sargsyan as a measure of restraint.

The Sargsyan-led Republican Party of Armenia denounced the charges as “fabricated”, stressing the Armenian authorities seek to divert the people’s attention from “escalating daily problems facing the country.”