Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan, was charged on Tuesday, August 25, with abuse of official powers, bribery, and money laundering, as the Anti-Corruption Committee arrested him, his eldest son, Sedrak Kocharyan, and four others in a corruption investigation. The arrests followed dawn raids at several dozen sites tied to the Kocharyan family and came a day after a parliamentary clash between the former president’s other son, opposition lawmaker Levon Kocharyan, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said Kocharyan faces charges of abuse of official powers in three episodes, accepting a particularly large bribe in two episodes, and particularly large-scale money laundering in four episodes. The Anti-Corruption Committee said six people were arrested, including Kocharyan, his son Sedrak, and others it alleges took part in the schemes.
The Allegations
The Anti-Corruption Committee said investigators found that a person who served as president, acting with people close to him and using his official position, took valuable state properties on fabricated grounds and at prices well below market value, then registered them to affiliated companies to conceal their ownership and origin before developing, selling, or transferring them.
Among the properties the committee cited: an 8.3-hectare plot near Acharyan and Tsarav Aghbyur streets, bought for about 44.7 million drams, where the Play City entertainment center was built in 2002, with a 50 percent stake in the owner company later donated to the former president’s son; a two-hectare plot near the Cascade complex, bought for about 39.6 million drams, later swapped for a state plot that was then sold for 1.742 billion drams; and a plot and building at 7/1 Tsitsernakaberd Highway belonging to a state youth sports school, bought for about 12.3 million drams, where the Orange Fitness club was built in 2008, with a 50 percent stake later registered to a company founded by the son.
The committee also described two alleged bribery episodes. In the first, it said Kocharyan received 56 properties worth about 2.634 billion drams as a bribe in exchange for arranging the removal from state ownership and sale of the Officers’ House, a listed historical monument on V. Sargsyan Street, and an unfinished building on Nalbandyan Street. In the second, it said Defense Ministry land on Admiral Isakov Avenue, valued at about 1.394 billion drams, was sold to a company tied to a Kocharyan associate at four times below its worth, and that in exchange for the sale and for clearing the way to establish Toyota’s representative office in Armenia, a 30 percent stake in Toyota Yerevan was transferred to the former president as a bribe in May 2006 and registered to his son.
Investigators said they are also examining money transfers registered to Sedrak Kocharyan between 2001 and 2019 totaling roughly 144 billion drams, 309 million dollars, 77 million euros, and 18 million rubles, along with more than three dozen properties in Armenia and abroad. Restrictions have been placed on the assets to prevent their transfer or sale.
The Defense
Kocharyan’s lawyer, Aram Orbelyan, said the charges stem from government decisions Kocharyan approved while serving as president. The defense believes the conduct described does not amount to a crime and establishes no link between Kocharyan and any offense, he said, calling it “a politically motivated process.” Orbelyan said he expected prosecutors to seek Kocharyan’s pre-trial detention. Bagrat Mikoyan, the head of Kocharyan’s office, called the operation another government “attack” on the former president and his family, and later said Kocharyan was hospitalized from custody after his blood pressure rose, noting the former president had recently undergone a medical procedure.
The Armenia Alliance, which Kocharyan leads, condemned the operation, calling it “not a legal process” but the use of the state apparatus to serve one person’s political aims. The alliance said Kocharyan, his family, and his team could not be intimidated, and vowed to continue what it called its political struggle.
Serzh Sargsyan Drawn In
The Anti-Corruption Committee said it had also initiated criminal prosecution against Armenia’s third president, Serzh Sargsyan, in the same case. Sargsyan was summoned to the committee and questioned, and told reporters beforehand that he did not yet know what the case concerned. He left after questioning. Pashinyan had said in parliament the previous day that law enforcement should act to recover assets he said belonged to the state, naming both Kocharyan and Sargsyan.
The Parliament Clash
The arrests came the morning after a tense exchange on Monday between Levon Kocharyan and Pashinyan during a session on the government’s program. Kocharyan argued that a head of government should not publicly decide who is imprisoned or stripped of assets. “If the country’s prime minister says this person should go to prison and that person should be deprived of their property, that is a political order,” he said. “This is not normal. It contradicts European standards and democracy.”
Pashinyan questioned the origins of the family’s wealth. “Why are you a millionaire? How did you become a millionaire? How did your family become millionaires?” he said, adding that assets acquired at the public’s expense should be returned. “You will have to return everything, piece by piece, to the Republic of Armenia,” he said. He closed by invoking the line “Judge not, that you be not judged,” before adding: “Yes, I am judging you, and I will judge you, and I am ready to be judged by the same standard.”
Levon Kocharyan, a member of the Armenia Alliance, was not arrested and retains immunity as a sitting lawmaker. Alliance lawmaker Mesrop Manukyan tied the operation to the parliamentary session, saying “the instruction comes directly from the parliamentary rostrum.” The Anti-Corruption Committee has not said its actions were connected to the exchange.
Background
Kocharyan served as Armenia’s president from 1998 to 2008 and heads the Armenia Alliance, which finished third in the June 7 parliamentary election and was allotted 12 seats. In June, the Central Electoral Commission lifted his immunity as a candidate at prosecutors’ request, opening the way for a criminal case tied to his family’s business holdings. In recent weeks authorities also arrested Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan on fraud and money laundering charges and brought cases against his family and companies, after Pashinyan’s campaign vow to strip his rivals, whom he called the “three-headed party of war,” of their property.
Under Armenia’s Criminal Procedure Code, a person charged with a criminal offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court verdict.
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