Criminal Proceedings Initiated for Money Laundering Following Article on Undeclared Properties in Dubai

The Investigative Committee has initiated criminal proceedings based on the publication by Hetq, which highlighted the undeclared real estate acquired in Dubai by four former high-ranking officials and their relatives. The individuals in question include former Yerevan Mayor and former Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan, his brother former MP (and former Deputy Minister of Urban Development and Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Urban Development) Hakob Beglaryan, as well as former MPs Samvel Aleksanyan and Harant Davtyan. The undeclared Arab properties belong jointly to the wives of Aleksanyan and Davtyan. We also addressed the apartment purchased by H. Davtyan's brother, despite the latter not having held an official position.

The issue is that concealing declarable data has been a criminal offense in Armenia since July 2017. Among those mentioned, only Gagik Beglaryan last submitted a declaration in February 2017; the others continued to fill out declarations after July 2017, when the Criminal Code (referring to the previous code) stipulated that concealing property worth particularly large sums (exceeding 1 million drams) from declaration is punishable by 2-4 years of imprisonment, along with possibly being barred from holding certain positions or engaging in specific activities for a maximum of 3 years.

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