Armenia targets tycoon Tsarukyan in AraratCement probe, moves to seize assets

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia has expanded its investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding the ownership and past privatisation of the AraratCement plant, as authorities move to challenge key transactions dating back more than two decades.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, investigators have identified a suspected unlawful land transaction linked to the company, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

In September 2009, the former mayor of Ararat, Abraham Babayan, who has since died, is alleged to have facilitated the sale of 74.1 hectares of municipal agricultural land to the cement plant through what authorities describe as a fictitious auction.

On May 27, prosecutors filed a claim with the Anti-Corruption Court against a former municipal official and AraratCement, seeking to invalidate the auction results. The authorities are also reviewing the legality of additional assets acquired and used by the company.

The wider investigation centres on the original privatisation of the plant in 2001–2002, which prosecutors allege was conducted through shell foreign companies. According to the case file, this structure ultimately enabled control of the enterprise to pass to businessman and political figure Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia party.

The Prosecutor’s Office is now seeking to annul the privatisation in full. As a precautionary step, it has also proposed appointing a temporary state administrator to oversee the enterprise, drawing a parallel with previous state intervention in Electric Networks of Armenia.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously stated during an election campaign that AraratCement would be returned to state ownership in the near future, signalling political backing for the legal push.

By Aghakazim Guliyev