Sister-in-law of Armenian parliament speaker detained in Yerevan

Ani Gevorgyan, the wife of the brother of Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan, has been arrested, Caliber.Az reports citing Armenian media.

She is named in the same case as former deputy economics minister Ani Ispiryan and head of the state investment policy Lilia Sirakanyan.

"A petition for the arrest of seven people has been filed in this case," the media source said.

Earlier, following searches in the country's Ministry of Economy, Armenia's Investigative Committee reported the arrest of seven people. These people abused their official powers through prior conspiracy.

In particular, they conspired with the head of one of the companies in the tender "Creation of a bank for public investment programmes". They created artificial obstacles for the participation of their competitor. This resulted in the company that submitted a three times more expensive bid (costing 392 million drams - almost $100,000) winning.

The searches took place in the Ministry of Economy and the homes of a number of people, in 15 places in all, according to the Armenian IC.