Gyumri bribery scandal deepens with arrest of chief architect

Henrik Gasparyan, the chief architect of Gyumri, has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into corruption within the city administration, following the earlier detention of Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan.

Sputnik Armenia has confirmed the development with the Anti-Corruption Committee, which revealed that two additional officials implicated in the case—among them the chief engineer—have also been taken into custody.

“As part of the criminal proceedings concerning bribery involving a group of municipal officials in Gyumri, a preventive measure of arrest has been imposed on two more detainees, including the chief engineer,” the committee stated.

In Gyumri, 33 people have been arrested in connection with participation in mass riots and obstruction of justice, the Investigative Committee said.

On October 20, law enforcement officers entered the Gyumri City Hall early in the morning. Masked special forces prevented employees from entering or leaving the building. Citizens gathered in front of the City Hall, where scuffles occurred between the police and the crowd. The police detained several people.

The masked officers, carrying out a special operation, quickly arrested Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan from the rear entrance of the City Hall and transported him to Yerevan’s Anti-Corruption Committee.

Later, the Anti-Corruption Committee announced that eight City Hall employees, including Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, were arrested on charges of giving and receiving bribes.

On October 1, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in the National Assembly: “For six months now, Gyumri has been governed by a clan, whose head, known by many as Vardanik—or, according to the charges, the father of a municipal brush thief—has allowed himself to make statements that recently publicly questioned Armenia’s sovereignty. Those who make statements against Armenia’s sovereignty must be expelled from the political and public field.”

By Vafa Guliyeva