Lieutenant-General Stepan Galstian, a deputy chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, was charged with fraud and abuse of power and remanded in pre-trial custody on Saturday two days after being summoned to the NSS for questioning.
Galstian denies the accusations. His lawyer told News.am that he will appeal against a district court’s decision to allow investigators to hold the general in pre-trial detention.
The NSS arrested former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and an arms dealer reputedly close to him on Wednesday part of the same criminal case. It charged them with fraud and embezzlement that cost the state almost 2.3 billion drams ($4.7 million).
Both men deny the charges. Tonoyan’s lawyer said on Friday that he will petition the Court of Appeals to release his client from custody pending investigation.
Another Armenian general was arrested earlier in September. The NSS claimed that the general abused his powers to arrange for personal gain a $4.7 million contract for the supply of outdated rockets to the armed forces.
According to the security service, the Defense Ministry had refused to buy those rockets from a private intermediary in 2011.