Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his son Sedrak Kocharyan have been detained, while law enforcement officers continue searches at the Kocharyan family’s homes.
A search is also being conducted at the home of Kocharyan’s other son, Levon Kocharyan, a lawmaker from the Armenia parliamentary faction.
Six people have been detained in proceedings involving the former president.
Investigators have obtained information concerning acquisitions of state property, alleged bribery and large financial transfers.
According to evidence obtained in criminal proceedings investigated by Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee, a person who served as president of Armenia, acting by prior agreement with people close to him and using his official position, removed several valuable properties of public and economic significance from state ownership on various fictitious grounds and acquired them at prices substantially below market value.
According to information obtained during the preliminary investigation, the properties were registered in the names of affiliated companies to conceal their actual ownership and criminal origin. The acquired properties were subsequently disposed of through development and sale, transfer to third parties, as well as transfers of shares in the companies that owned them, including through donations.
In particular:
An 8.3-hectare land plot adjacent to Acharyan and Tsarav Aghbyur streets was acquired for 44,657,000 Armenian drams. The Play City entertainment center was built there in 2002, and two years later, on Nov. 15, 2004, a 50% stake in Fast Kart, the company managing the property, was transferred as a donation and registered in the name of the former president’s son.
A two-hectare land plot located on the left side of the Cascade complex was acquired for 39,630,000 Armenian drams. It was subsequently exchanged for another state-owned plot of the same size in a more favorable area of Yerevan, after which the property was sold for 1,741,931,000 drams.
The building at 8 Paronyan Street, recorded on the balance sheet of Yeraspasarkum state closed joint-stock company, was also acquired for 40 million Armenian drams. Public-use premises totaling 600 square meters in the apartment building subsequently constructed there, with a market value of 331,800,000 Armenian drams, as well as two parking spaces, were registered in the former president’s son’s name through sham sale and purchase transactions.
The Kaputak Sevan resort complex in Gegharkunik Province was acquired for 83,669,000 Armenian drams. A 50% stake in Art Build, the company owning the complex, was registered in the former president’s son’s name on Jan. 15, 2010, through a sham sale and purchase transaction.
A 29,000-square-meter land plot at 7/1 Tsitsernakaberd Highway, along with a 1,700-square-meter building on it, belonging to the Tennis Olympic Reserve Children and Youth Sports School state non-commercial organization, was acquired for 12,267,000 Armenian drams. The Orange Fitness premium club was built on the site in 2008, while a 50% stake in the company owning the property was registered in 2009, through a sham transaction, in the name of a company founded by the former president’s son.
The preliminary investigation also obtained information indicating that, in exchange for arranging the removal from state ownership and transfer to Piazza Grande of the Officers’ House building at 20 V. Sargsyan Street, considered a historical and cultural monument, and the unfinished building at 16 Nalbandyan Street in violation of a number of legal provisions, a person who served as president of Armenia received 56 properties worth a total of 2,633,934,000 drams as a bribe. To conceal their actual ownership and origin, the properties were registered in the names of the former president’s family members and organizations affiliated with them through sham sale and purchase agreements.
In another episode of the criminal proceedings, investigators examined land plots belonging to Armenia’s Defense Ministry at 22 and 22/4 Admiral Isakov Avenue, including areas designated for construction of a research and production facility. Their combined market value was 1,393,870,000 Armenian drams, while the plots were sold at one-quarter of that value to a company owned by a person close to the former president.
According to investigators, in exchange for selling the land plots at a substantially reduced price and ensuring the unhindered establishment of a representative office in Armenia of Japanese company Toyota, a 30% stake in Toyota Yerevan was transferred as a bribe on May 9, 2006, to the person serving as Armenia’s president. To conceal its criminal origin, the stake was registered in the former president’s son’s name through sham sale and purchase agreements.
Six people have been detained in the criminal proceedings, including the former president, his son and other individuals allegedly involved in the criminal schemes.
During the preliminary investigation, authorities also examined the circumstances surrounding financial transfers made in the former president’s son’s name between 2001 and 2019 totaling approximately 144 billion drams, $309 million, €77 million and 18 million Russian rubles.
Investigators have also examined the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of more than three dozen properties in Armenia and abroad belonging to people connected with the proceedings and members of their families. Measures have been taken to impose restrictions on those properties to prevent their possible transfer or disposal.
