Sergey Bagratyan's Illegal Sand Mine Shut Down

It took law enforcement a year to close the illegal sand mine owned by the wife of ruling party MP Sergey Bagratyan from the Civil Contract faction. The illegal sand extraction was uncovered by Hetq in November 2023.

As of October 25, 2024, no work was being conducted at the mine located in the village of Ranchpar, Ararat Province. Only guards were present in the area. Dump trucks were notably absent, and the sound of heavy machinery was not heard. On the road leading to the mine, we noticed newly imported equipment for sand washing that had not yet been used.

Sergey Bagratyan, a geologist by profession, attempted to apply his geological knowledge to the sand extraction sector after leaving the Prosperous Armenia party and becoming an MP on the Civil Contract party list. His wife, Naira Hakobyan, founded Ararak LLC, which rented 64 hectares of land in the village of Ranchpar, Ararat Province. Under the pretext of establishing an orchard, the renter began to conduct land works.

According to Sergey Bagratyan, it was during this time that they discovered a layer of useless sand in the area and attempted to remove it to facilitate tree planting. This led to the extraction of more than 100 dump trucks of sand daily from the plot of land. However, Armenian legislation clearly stipulates a procedure for using subsoil resources. Anyone wishing to exploit a mine must first have the right to use the subsoil and must obtain a positive conclusion from an environmental impact assessment before commencing operations.

Sergey Bagratyan was likely aware that legal exploitation of the mine would be possible only after years of following the prescribed procedures, so he chose another path. The LLC owned by the MP's wife began illegal sand extraction without legal documents. Law enforcement did not intervene for about a year. Following media reports on illegal sand extraction, the MP's wife transferred her shares to another person associated with Sergey Bagratyan, Vrej Yeghoyan, who is Bagratyan's business partner.

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