Relations Between the 'My Step' Faction and Mayor Hayk Marutyan Have Soured

Relations between Mayor Hayk Marutyan and members of his 'My Step' faction have soured following the emergence of concerns among the council's ruling members regarding alleged 'under-the-table revenues' in the city hall's construction sector. One of the faction's members, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed this to 24News.

“During numerous meetings, we have tried to raise these issues with Hayk Marutyan, hoping that he would implement personnel changes in the leadership of the urban planning department. However, we received rejections and decided to resort to tougher measures. Specifically, we have removed several agenda items from the council meetings, the postponement of which has been very painful for the mayor. Only after that was he forced to accept our demands and dismiss the heads of the department and division,” our interlocutor stated.

According to the My Step council member, the second major crisis between their faction and Marutyan stems from the fact that “after the departure of chief architect Artur Meshchyan, he envisions his close friend David Jgnavoryan for the position, who was Marutyan's house designer before moving to the city hall, and has been working as the mayor's architectural advisor for a year.”

“Currently, before an architect is appointed for the city, he is effectively managing all processes in that sector at the city hall,” our interlocutor noted.

The My Step council members also added that they were surprised by the fact that after the statement made by Ani Khachatryan, a member of the 'Lus' alliance, about illegal constructions being added to the Dvin hotel complex, Jgnavoryan met with the owner of the hotel, Artak Tovmasyan, after which the issue turned into a “cover-up.”

“One can only speculate why this happened,” he added.