Ashot Hovanesian of the U.S.-registered company Synergy International Systems, senior company executive Lili Mkrian and her former colleague Ani Gevorgian were indicted in a criminal investigation into what law-enforcement authorities call a fraudulent procurement tender organized by the Armenian Ministry of Economy last summer.
The tender was invalidated by an Armenian court shortly after being won by Synergy. Investigators say the ministry illegally disqualified another information technology firm that submitted a much smaller bid. Four ministry officials were also detained last week. But unlike Hovanesian, Mkrian and Gevorgian, they were set free or moved to house arrest in the following days.
Synergy on Monday rejected the still unpublicized accusations leveled against the remaining detainees and demanded their immediate release. The Armenian Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) also condemned Hovanesian’s arrest over the weekend. It said that recent “unfounded” detentions of “business representatives and other prominent persons” are turning Armenia into a “risky country” for local and foreign tech entrepreneurs.
Hayk Konjorian, the leader of Civil Contract’s party parliamentary group, announced on Tuesday that it met late on Monday and decided to petition a court to free the Synergy executives pending investigation. He said the pro-government parliamentarians will guarantee the suspects’ proper behavior in writing.
Konjorian insisted that the decision was not ordered by or coordinated with Pashinian. It reflects public reactions to the arrests, rather than the fact that one of the suspects, Gevorgian, is the wife of parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s brother, he told journalists. He said the pro-government parliamentarians also took into account the fact that Gevorgian and Mkrian have young children.
One of those deputies, Emma Palian, expressed confidence that Simonian’s sister-in-law will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
“Knowing personally Mr. Simonian but not Ms. Gevorgian, I am sure it will emerge that the case is baseless and the result of a misunderstanding,” said Palian.
The speaker, who is a senior member of the ruling party, himself has not commented on the case so far. But he did make a point of posting on Facebook a photo of himself, his brother and Gevorgian right after her arrest.
The fact that one of the detainees is related to Simonian has fueled speculation about political motives behind the high-profile case. Some commentators claim that Pashinian personally sanctioned the young woman’s arrest in a bid to boost his falling approval ratings by showing Armenians that he is serious about combatting corruption. Pashinian allies have dismissed such claims.