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The former director general of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Gagik Markosyan, has been charged with misappropriation of funds worth over $1 million, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Thursday.

Markosyan, who led the ANPP from 2002 to 2014, embezzled $1,270,470 (nearly 384 million drams) worth funds entrusted to him, the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

In particular, in 2011 he approved the purchase of an incomplete set of metal rods (14 units) for the NPP reactor from the Russian company NovEnergoProm without any need for more than 33.5 million Russian rubles, which was much higher that the market price.

The rods were not used and remained in the central storage facility, passing their shelf life.

In 2015, the Armenian NPP was forced to buy a complete set of metal rods including 37 units from Russia’s Rusatom Service for $592,000 (over 283 million drams).

On 22 December 2022, the prosecutor dealing with case decided to launch criminal proceedings against Markosyan. The case was forwarded to the Investigation Department of the National Security Service. Markosyan was indicted on January 31.