Armenian Speaker on former officials: They tried to become Pashinyan’s personal oligarchs

Some people believed after the revolution that they could become Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s personal oligarchs and local criminal representatives, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said in an interview with journalists.

“Roughly speaking, eight or nine out of ten people tried to reach out to the authorities, expressing their willingness to serve us. And at that time, they were not considered dissenters. These people will quietly stay in their places, but if they make a sound, I will remind one of them — a well-fed man — that he met me at a café near our house and urged me to work with another person he came with,” Simonyan said, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

According to him, many former high-ranking officials and ministers offered their services to the current government.

“There have been, are, and will always be such people. And if they don’t want me to voice names, they should stay quietly in their places,” he added.

Simonyan also said that some individuals mistakenly believe they can hide behind political positions after committing crimes.

He dismissed as “ridiculous” the speculation that Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan is seeking to take over his post.

The 2018 Velvet Revolution, led by Pashinyan, ousted the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), led by Serzh Sargsyan, ending decades of rule by entrenched elites often linked to oligarchic networks. These elites, including former officials and business tycoons, controlled key sectors like mining, energy, and real estate, with figures like Gagik Tsarukyan and Samvel Karapetyan wielding significant influence. Post-revolution, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party vowed to dismantle this system, launching anti-corruption probes that recovered $1.2 billion in assets by 2024, per the Anti-Corruption Committee. However, critics, including the Armenia Alliance (led by ex-President Robert Kocharyan), argue that Pashinyan has selectively targeted rivals while fostering a new loyalist elite.

By Khagan Isayev