The National Security Service (NSS) has submitted a motion to the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction regarding the arrest of Gagik Tsarukyan, the lawyer of the leader of the opposition “Prosperous Armenia” party, Emin Khachatryan, told Azatutyun. The date of the hearing on the arrest is not known.
The leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party said on the evening of June 16, after leaving the NSS, that the examination of his arrest issue is expected today. Tsarukyan’s lawyer told Azatutyun that charges have been filed against Tsarukyan: “Under Article 154.2 (receiving bribes by voters from candidates, parties (party alliances), referendum campaign initiatives, or giving bribes to voters by candidates, parties (party alliances), referendum campaign initiatives, or obstructing the free expression of the voter’s will) — related to electoral bribes.”
Emin Khachatryan said that Tsarukyan does not accept the charge and considers it illegal: “An illegal, unfounded charge.”
After a several-hour-long interrogation, Tsarukyan left the NSS stating that he is going home and reiterating that the criminal cases attributed to him are fabricated: “You ask the main law-enforcement bodies, let them answer, there is nothing connected to me, there is no problem, I have no connection with the government on any issue. There are governors, and anyone else, if there is something to say, can come to a confrontation. This is a fabricated, contrived case, it will be examined in court, you will all see it.”
In addition to the case of distributing electoral bribes in the 2017 elections, the National Security Service has announced two more cases related to Tsarukyan. One of them concerns the “Onira Club” company, which is part of Tsarukyan’s “Multi Group” concern. The NSS states that this company, which operates gambling and casino businesses in various parts of Armenia, operated without a license, causing the state approximately 30 billion drams or 60 million dollars in damage. According to the NSS, in another episode, “Onira Club” misled the relevant bodies and deprived the state of investments amounting to 40 billion drams.
And the other concerns the actions of officials in Tsarukyan’s native Arinj. In this case, according to the NSS, they caused significant damage to the state when agricultural land was used by the “New” Limited Liability Company (LLC), a trademark owned by Tsarukyan, as industrial land, as a result of which the state suffered damage of nearly 380 million drams or 804 thousand dollars.
