The officers of the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) and the National Security Service (NSS) jointly searched at least one office at the ministry headquarters in Yerevan on Monday. It remains unclear whether anyone was arrested or charged as a result.
Neither law-enforcement agency has commented on the extraordinary operation so far. The ACC said on Wednesday that it will make an official statement soon.
A spokeswoman for the ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the investigators searched the office of Ashot Hakobian, an adviser to Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan. Hakobian did not report for work on Wednesday despite not being on vacation, she said without commenting further.
Piloyan went on a two-week vacation hours after the raid. He was reportedly questioned by the ACC on Tuesday. The minister has still not publicly commented on the corruption probe.
Piloyan is a retired army general who participated in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. During the six-week hostilities, he received Armenia’s highest state award, the title of National Hero, for leading what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called a successful Armenian counteroffensive southwest of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The award proved highly controversial seeing as Azerbaijani forces continued their advance in that area in the following days.
Pashinian went on to appoint Piloyan as minister in November 2020 less than two weeks after a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the devastating war.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations will be run by Piloyan’s first deputy, Armen Pambukhchian, for now. Pambukhchian is a member of the ruling Civil Contract party.