Avinyan Targets Media to Conceal His Corrupt Nature: 'Zhoghovurd'

Yerevan's Mayor Tigran Avinyan, who often avoids questions from journalists, held a press conference yesterday, establishing a procedure of 'One question, one answer.' Of course, no representative of the media was limited to this rule. Both questions that Avinyan liked as well as those that were less favorable were raised. This was reported by the ‘Zhoghovurd’ newspaper.

‘First of all, 36-year-old Tigran Avinyan boasted like a 15-year-old teenager that at the age of 19 he was sitting in a Mercedes SUV, then justified himself by saying that he had everything before 2017 and did not admit that even property acquisitions occurred after 2018,’ said Avinyan.

According to facts, in 2024, Tigran Avinyan's family acquired an apartment in the Norq-Mararsh administrative district. ‘Azatutyun’ wrote that the house is about 300 square meters, additionally, there is a supplementary building, and the land area is 730 square meters. According to documents, the villa was purchased on November 19 of last year and was mortgaged the same day at 'Byblos' Bank. In other words, it was bought with a mortgage loan.

Pedro Zarokyan, a member of the Yerevan City Council's 'National Progress' faction, made a Facebook post stating that based on Tigran Avinyan and his family's public declarations and market prices, he calculated that the Avinyan family had purchased (or, according to them, acquired through 'mining') assets worth approximately $3.2 million in the last five years. They claimed that loans were used to buy part of the assets.

‘Let's applaud for the Velvet Revolution! 4.57 Bitcoin (approximately $500,000 at current value); 41,012,000 drams ($107,000) allegedly earned from Mr. Avinyan’s ‘Poolin mining.’ There is at least $500,000-$1 million worth of real estate being constructed on Lake Sevan; Solar panels with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts have been installed in Ejmiatsin, ranging from $800,000 to $1 million. In 2020, a 9-hectare plot of land was purchased by Tigran Avinyan's mother, valued at about $180,000. A house worth approximately $500,000 was acquired in Norq-Mararsh; two cars were purchased for about $80,000,’ he wrote.

And where was Tigran Avinyan before this? His political journey began in 2017-2018. During these years, he served as a member of the Yerevan City Council from the 'Yelk' faction, but his declaration as a city council member has not been found in any available source.

Avinyan's first declaration was that of the vice-premier position he assumed. Let us compare Tigran Avinyan’s 2018 and 2024 declarations since he is confident that the press is the reason behind the perception that the Avinyan family's wealth improved after the revolution. Tigran Avinyan's monetary assets as declared in 2018 amounted to $12,475 and 7 million drams. The declared income for that reporting period was 13,271,000 drams, with salary making up 12 million drams. Almost $15,000 of income sources are protected, listed as 'other income.' Of the total income, 842,000 drams were from a 'received loan.' There are no real estate or vehicles declared.

Curiously, when and where did 19-year-old Avinyan’s Mercedes SUV disappear? In Tigran Avinyan's declaration as the Mayor of Yerevan, the numbers are more lavish and bounteous. It is noteworthy that neither the Mayor of Yerevan nor his wife, Mariam Pahlavuni, reported any real estate, yet Avinyan has been managing an individual house in Yerevan for over 90 days. In 2022, Tigran Avinyan declared the VOLKSWAGEN car donated by his father, Armen Avinyan, as a ‘purchase’ in this declaration.

Yerevan Mayor and member of the ‘Civil Contract’ party's board, Tigran Avinyan had an income of 54.6 million drams last year, which is 9 million drams more than in 2023. From the mayor's declaration, we learn that of this income, 27.3 million drams came from salary received from the Yerevan municipality, which is 7 million drams more than in 2023, while he earned 3 million drams from the municipality as ‘other income.’ What has Tigran Avinyan not disclosed?

From the Poolin cryptocurrency mining platform, Avinyan earned 24.3 million drams, which is double compared to the previous year. Thus, it turns out that the mayor, besides earning money from the public sector, also makes profit from cryptocurrency. Avinyan increased his declared Bitcoin volume to 4.57 in 2024, adding 0.95. Notably, 1 Bitcoin is currently valued at around $114,000. Besides Bitcoin, Avinyan also holds other cryptocurrencies, the volumes of which have remained unchanged over the year: 1,483 ADA Cardano and 5 Ethereum. His cash holdings amounted to 24.4 million drams in 2024, with a one-time expense of 4.3 million drams. By the end of the year, the mayor had 13.7 million drams in a bank account.

Avinyan is the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund of Armenia and the chair of the Board of Trustees of the ‘National Polytechnic University of Armenia’ Foundation. To avoid these revelations, Avinyan targeted ‘Hetq’ and the ‘Zhoghovurd’ newspaper yesterday, forgetting his corrupt nature described above,” the newspaper wrote.