YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Former interim Rector of the State Economics University Ruben Hayrapetyan is suspected in official misconduct, according to police.

The Organized Crime Department of Police gathered information suggesting that Hayrapetyan, while in office, violated the Labor Code and the university’s charter by granting people close to him paid vacations and monetary awards and bonuses which the latter weren’t entitled to.

Police said they are clarifying the total damages.

Hayrapetyan was serving as interim rector of the university from December 2018 until August 2019, when he was dismissed after plagiarism-related accusations emerged about his PhD dissertation. Hayrapetyan admitted that his thesis had some discrepancies and after a meeting with Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Arayik Harutyunyan he stepped down.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan