Armenia`s State Supervision Service has filed a criminal complaint regarding the alienation of land in Arinj and its sale to Tsarukyan`s companies at a reduced price.

ArmInfo. In Arinj, land plots not subject to alienation were sold to companies owned by Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan in gross violation of the law. Their cadastral value was artificially reduced by almost 99.94%. A report of the crime has been filed with the Prosecutor General's Office. This was stated in a statement by the State Supervision Service published on its Facebook page.

It is noted that the Service conducted an investigation into the legality and validity of government agencies' actions in the sale of land plots not subject to alienation, as well as in the registration of property rights to plots whose cadastral value was reduced by changing their designated purpose. "For example, a 16.17-hectare plot of land located within the administrative boundaries of the Arinj community in the Kotayk region was encumbered by utility infrastructure (a 700 mm diameter gas pipeline) and was not subject to alienation. Despite this, it was sold at auction to Aviaservis, a company owned by Tsarukyan," the agency noted.

According to the supervisory body, the sale of this plot caused significant damage to the legitimate interests of the state. Furthermore, it is noted that violations in the management, use, and disposal of land resources in the Arinj community were identified. "Based on the conclusion of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Coordination of Temporary Land Use Schemes, a large-scale land reclassification was carried out in Arinj in 2017. Industrial and other production land (11.2 hectares), residential land (36.29 hectares), and other valuable land (28.96 hectares), with a total cadastral value of over 8 billion 38 million drams, were reclassified as agricultural land (pastures) with an extremely low value of only 5 million 160 thousand drams. As a result, the cadastral value of the assets decreased by 8 billion 32 million drams, or approximately 99.94%," the department reported.

The State Supervision Service of Armenia continued that, ignoring the legal requirement that the maximum size of a land plot alienated in a single lot cannot exceed 20 hectares, the head of the community subsequently put the land up for auction. Ultimately, according to the source, it was sold for 21.5 million drams to another of Tsarukyan's companies, the Multi Group concern. "Since the transactions were not registered with the state due to the aforementioned legislative restrictions, instead of holding new auctions, the responsible officials resorted to forgery: they altered the minutes of the auctions that had already taken place, as well as the decisions of the head of the community that had entered into force. Then, based on the presumably forged documents, four real estate purchase and sale agreements were concluded at auction, which ensured the process of state registration of property rights and its transfer to a company owned by Tsarukyan," the supervisory body added.

In conclusion, it is noted that in connection with the recorded facts, reports of a crime were filed with the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, and criminal proceedings were initiated.

As a reminder, on July 6, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan was detained and taken to the Investigative Committee of Armenia. He is accused of organizing fraud and money laundering on an especially large scale. According to investigators, in 2022-2024, a group operating under his leadership, under the pretext of developing trade and economic ties between Armenia and Iran, created joint legal entities with the participation of Iranian citizens, after which they implemented a fraudulent scheme, causing damages in the amount of more than $ 21 million. In addition, Gagik Tsarukyan was charged with another charge - illegal hunting. On July 7, the court granted the prosecution's motion to arrest Tsarukyan for two months. As part of the case, on July 6, law enforcement agencies conducted searches at more than 70 addresses associated with Tsarukyan. The doors of all businesses were then sealed. Some of them were nationalized by the state. On September 4, the court extended Tsarukyan's arrest for another two months.