Prime Minister's Brother Leases Forest Areas and Builds a Recreation Zone

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's brother, Artak Pashinyan, has leased 0.7 hectares of forest land in the Tavush region and is constructing a recreation zone. In September 2020, Artak Pashinyan leased two plots of land from the "Hayantar" State Non-Profit Organization in the territory of the Sevkar Forest Enterprise. One of the plots is 0.5 hectares, for which an annual rent of 240,000 Armenian drams has been set; the second, smaller plot is 0.2 hectares, for which Artak Pashinyan is required to pay 103,200 drams. This information comes from a publication by Hetq.am.

The article mentions: "We recall that Hetq had researched the lessees of Armenia's forests until 2019 and found that most of them are officials, their associates, or well-known individuals. We had requested the Ministry of Environment for information about the leased areas and lessees since 2020. During this period, according to the ministry's data, 11 contracts for forest leasing have been signed, two of which are with Artak Pashinyan. Artak Pashinyan has leased these forest areas for a period of 20 years for the purpose of organizing a recreation zone. Competitions were announced for these areas, and contracts were signed with Artak Pashinyan at the starting price announced in the competition.

By cross-referencing the cadastral committee's map with Google Maps, we were able to determine that the area leased by Artak Pashinyan is located above the village of Yenokavan. When asked about what has been built or how the area is being used, the director of the Sevkar Forest Enterprise, Mher Arzumanyan, said after listening to our question that we should call back tomorrow for more information. After several days of our periodic calls, Mher Arzumanyan stopped responding. Today, we called him from a different phone number, and he got back to us shortly after. "His area is very far from ours, and we can't always go and check, but we are gathering information on what has been done, we visit, and we check. There are no issues on his side; he can have a gazebo or something built that isn’t concrete or similar," said Mher Arzumanyan.

According to the forest enterprise leader, Artak Pashinyan does not have development rights. While examining Artak Pashinyan’s Facebook page, we discovered that in June he hosted a group of journalists from the former Armenian Time newspaper, now Public Television, at his leased area, accompanied by Nikol Pashinyan's spouse, Anna Hakobyan. From the photographs, it can be inferred that Artak Pashinyan has built wooden cottages, recreation pavilions, and guesthouse facilities in the forest area leased in Sevkar.

In a conversation with us, Artak Pashinyan confirmed that the area was leased for tourism purposes but is not yet operational. The lessee stated that gazebos are constructed in the area, but there is still work to be done. "We have been working on this for two years now," said Artak Pashinyan.

There are already wooden structures for overnight stays, but they have not yet been put into operation and are not finalized.

When we inquired whether the journalists from Public Television had recently visited that area, Artak Pashinyan responded, "I am neither an official nor obliged to answer your questions." When we pointed out that he is leasing forest land in Armenia, which is why we are interested, he said that the lease is paid regularly. However, he is not obligated to answer questions about who came to that area and why. Thus, our conversation was interrupted.

For more details, refer to the original source.