Photos: Karen Karapetyan's Son Builds Shopping Center in the Mashtots Park Underpass

Former National Assembly member Karen Karapetyan's son, Vahe Karapetyan, is constructing a shopping center in the underpass adjacent to Mashtots Park. His company, "Anjumek," is currently engaged in construction work within the underground area.

Vahe Karapetyan acquired shares in this company four months ago from Ruben Harutyunyan, the son of former head of the State Revenue Committee Vardan Harutyunyan, according to Hetq.am. Harutyunyan had, in turn, purchased the company's shares earlier this January from its founder, Karen Hovsepyan, and sold them to Vahe Karapetyan just 20 days later.

Vahe Karapetyan is the nephew of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who sponsored the renovation of the park area recently reopened at the Saryan-Mashtots Boulevard section. The underpass is adjacent to this park.

During the park's opening, Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan mentioned to representatives of the "Tashir" company, who renovated the park, that significant work remains to be done regarding the underground passage as well as the upper part of the park. Narik Karapetyan, first vice president of the Tashir group of companies, assured the mayor that they cannot leave the adjacent underground passage in its current state.

"We need to address this issue as well. In other words, the park has dictated that we continue the investment program. We will try to find interesting solutions for citizens to spend their time in the underground passage area during the winter months," Narik Karapetyan stated. It should be noted that he is Vahe Karapetyan's brother.

According to the city hall, the underground passage area was sold to "Anjumek" following a decision by Mayor Karen Karapetyan on October 5, 2011. Specifically, the company was sold a 2053 square meter building and a 2053 square meter plot of land that belongs to the community. The company paid 349 million drams for the property.

As per the municipality, "Anjumek" acquired this area through a competition held in September 2011, just one month after the company was established. According to the data from the registry of legal entities, "Anjumek" was founded in August 2011 by Karen Hovsepyan and participated in the tender for the passage area just one month later, being declared the winner.