Arpi Davoyan, Under Investigation, Begins Fight for Mandate

The newspaper "Joghbour" reports that a race seems to have started within the ruling My Step Alliance (KPA) to see who can more sharply criticize the opposition and thereby secure a place on the election list. Some lawmakers, having forgotten their past actions, blame others for various offenses. One of them is Arpi Davoyan.

Davoyan, who failed in the fight against corruption even from within the KPA, has been subjected to reprimands and warnings from Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan but is showing activity on Facebook. After not achieving the position of Minister of Justice, he is now attempting to strengthen his position in the race for a parliamentary mandate.

It should be noted that Arpi Davoyan is one of the KPA members who stood out for his demonstrative closeness with leaders of security forces, accompanying them to various rooms in the National Assembly. Perhaps he has fears, as he has been passing as a witness in a criminal case for years.

The "Joghbourn" newspaper had sent an inquiry to the Prosecutor General's Office to clarify the details: "In 2018, a case investigated by the Investigation Department of the RA SSC passed through Arpi Davoyan's hands. According to preliminary information, he founded LLCs, made some imports, and then deceived the state. He was even interrogated by the SSC Investigation Department after April 2018. What case has been initiated against Arpi Davoyan, what status does he have, and what factual circumstances have been clarified regarding Arpi Davoyan's activities?"

In response, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that Arpi Davoyan was interrogated as a witness in the criminal case investigated by the RA Investigative Committee's main department for investigating economic crimes and smuggling, assuring that he has not had any other procedural status. The pretrial investigation of the criminal case continues.

As for what property Davoyan had and what possessions he currently has, it is known that from 2009 to 2014, he worked as a psychologist at high school No. 127 named after L. Arisyan, and from 2015 to 2016, as an assistant accountant at LLC Roma, and from 2016 to 2017, as an accountant at LLC Golden Tobacco.

Davoyan’s political career began in 2017-2018; he was the administrative assistant of the parliamentary "Elk" faction. However, alongside preparing coffee and tea, he also acquired other skills, being appointed as an assistant to Nikol Pashinyan after the revolution in 2018-2019. When he assumed the position of assistant to the Prime Minister in 2018, Davoyan had reported the following liabilities on that day: 93,581 AMD, 130,100 AMD, and 170,995 AMD. His monetary assets amounted to 161,143 AMD, and his income was 576,360 AMD, earned from his salary.

On December 9, 2018, he was elected as a member of the National Assembly from the My Step electoral list. In the annual declaration for 2018, his monetary assets significantly rose, amounting to 1,500,000 AMD, and his income was 6,613,848 AMD from his salary. In other words, Davoyan earned the equivalent of six months of his parliamentary salary in one month in 2018.

In the 2019 annual declaration, when Davoyan was already serving as a parliamentary member, he declared 4,346,031 AMD in a bank account, 50,000 AMD in cash, and 9,961,761 AMD in income from salaries received from the National Assembly and the government.

In 2020, Davoyan took a loan of 25,991,000 AMD from Ardshinbank, which he used to purchase an apartment. In 2021, he bought a Hyundai car for 2.5 million AMD.

According to the 2024 income, real estate, interests, and expense declarations, the pro-government parliamentarian Davoyan has declared no real estate, has no house but maintains a vehicle. His bank account balances were reported at 2,420,000 AMD, having declared 1,210,000 AMD in two different items. The cash declared amounted to 179,000 AMD. His reported income for the reporting year was 13,642,000 AMD, of which 10,171,000 AMD was earned through his salary from the RA National Assembly. Another 3 million AMD was other income from the ACBA bank, while 470,000 AMD was a tax refund from the Ministry of Finance.

Interestingly, Davoyan did not declare any loans. It raises questions—if there are no loans, why did he receive funds from the Ministry of Finance if it was received as a tax refund?

Since the revolution, after having jumped from the ground, Davoyan’s living standards have also drastically increased, which is why he wants to become a member of parliament again.