Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan faces charges over alleged threat to government

Armenian authorities have charged Samvel Karapetyan, the head of the Tashir Group of Companies and a Russian businessman of Armenian origin, with publicly calling for the seizure of power and are seeking his arrest.

In response, his lawyer, Armen Feroyan, told journalists that his client denies any criminal wrongdoing, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The Armenian Investigative Committee has filed a request with the court to detain Karapetyan.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has set a one-month deadline for compensation of damages allegedly caused by Karapetyan’s company, Electric Networks of Armenia, following widespread power outages affecting citizens.

Pashinyan warned that if the issue is not resolved by June 21, the government will move swiftly to nationalise the company. Speaking at a briefing, he said complaints of rolling blackouts and damage to electrical equipment had reached him from all over the country.

The prime minister also announced that a draft law to nationalise the Electric Networks of Armenia has been submitted to parliament. 

Furthermore, he suggested that the Armenian Apostolic Church is merely serving as a front for the soon-to-be former owners of the company.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Pashinyan condemned Karapetyan’s tone, asserting that no one has the right to address the state in such a manner.

The reaction follows Karapetyan’s recent comments criticising attacks on the Church by what he described as a “small group of people who have forgotten Armenia’s thousand-year history.”

He also warned that if politicians fail, “we will take part in this ourselves” — a statement Pashinyan interpreted as a direct threat to the state.

Pashinyan believes the remarks are politically motivated and linked to his decision last month to investigate Electric Networks of Armenia, owned by Karapetyan’s Tashir Group.

The prime minister accused the company of deliberately fuelling an energy crisis to provoke public unrest.

Notably, Karapetyan has been detained by Armenian law enforcement following a public warning to the government. Thus, he had criticised Pashinyan’s stance on the Armenian Apostolic Church, urging political leaders to stop their campaign or face intervention.

He denounced the attacks on the Church, calling it a pillar of Armenian identity.

Local media also reported police searches at Karapetyan’s residence and the detention of several individuals linked to him. 

By Aghakazim Guliyev