As Armenia pushes for political reform, the indictment of MP Ovik Agazaryan on bribery and fraud charges raises serious questions about the reach—and limits—of accountability in Yerevan.
Armenia’s political landscape has been jolted by the indictment of Member of Parliament (MP) Ovik Agazaryan on serious charges of bribery and fraud. The Prosecutor General’s Office has imposed a travel ban on Agazaryan as a preventive measure.
Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan presented a motion to the Armenian National Assembly seeking consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Agazaryan. The motion was approved by 65 MPs, with only two opposing votes.
The charges against Agazaryan involve two separate incidents:
- Livestock Export Scheme: Agazaryan allegedly promised to facilitate the export of 150–200 cattle using forged documents, intending to charge businessmen between $200,000 and $300,000 for the service. This plan reportedly involved bribing officials from Armenia’s Food Safety Inspection Authority.
- Bribery for Land Acquisition: He is accused of demanding a bribe of $23,000 and 300,000 drams from a citizen in exchange for facilitating the demolition of a dilapidated building at Elementary School No. 136 in Achapnyak and securing the land for residential construction.
This development comes amid ongoing political turbulence in Armenia. In late October, Agazaryan was involved in a heated confrontation with the then-head of the Investigative Committee, Argishti Kyaramyan, which nearly escalated into a physical altercation. Shortly after the incident, Kyaramyan and several other high-ranking officials were dismissed. Despite Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s calls for his resignation, Agazaryan refused to step down or relinquish his mandate. Following his departure from the ruling Civil Contract party, he now serves as an independent MP.
This case is part of a broader pattern of corruption investigations involving Armenian officials. For instance, former President Serzh Sarkisian has been prosecuted in a new corruption case, as confirmed by Marina Ohanjanian, a spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption Committee.
Additionally, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinian is facing another corruption scandal after it emerged that an Armenian government agency previously headed by him invested over 1.5 billion drams ($3.8 million) in 2023 in a company run by a friend of his wife.
These cases underscore the persistent challenges Armenia faces in combating corruption within its political and administrative structures. The outcome of Agazaryan’s case will be closely watched as an indicator of the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability.