Armenian Opposition Figure Gagik Tsarukyan Arrested
by The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
By Yousef Bardouka
He has since been placed under investigation for financial crimes and a travel ban.
Tsarukyan appears to have been arrested on the evening of July 6.
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According to independent media outlet CivilNet, his lawyer, Yerem Sargsyan, told lawyers that he was charged with aiding and abetting fraud and money laundering. He additionally claimed that he was detained as part of a case where he “should have been recognized as a victim.”
Sargsyan explained that the case involves the creation of a joint Armenian–Iranian chamber aimed at developing economic cooperation between the neighboring countries. He said that the proposed chamber had received necessary permits from the state, and that ‘significant investments were made.” However, he said that some Iranian nationals “committed abuses,” leading Tsarukyan to sue them.
“Instead of recognizing the organization with his participation as the victim, they decided to make Gagik Tsarukyan the defendant,” Sargsyan said, adding that he believed the arrest to be politically motivated.
Citing the Investigative Committee, the state-run media outlet Armenpress reported that he had embezzled upwards of 8.1 billion drams ($22 million) through establishing a logistics and freight link with Iran. It alleged that his group “fraudulently imported 52 vehicles, machinery, fuel, and various other goods from companies owned by Iranian entrepreneurs.”
The committee has also accused Tsarukyan of defrauding an Iranian national out of over $930,000 worth of petrol.
Charges have also been pressed against two other people alleged to be associated with Tsarukyan in the case.
The committee has also said that more than 10 criminal cases involving alleged large-scale fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion have been investigated by the authorities through raids at more than 70 addresses linked to Tsarukyan.
(This report is a combination of two stories that originally appeared on www.oc-media.org, on July 7 and 10.)
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