The former chief of the Armenian police, Vladimir Gasparian, could be prosecuted for illegally campaigning for the ruling Republican Party (HHK) ahead of parliamentary elections held in 2012, law-enforcement authorities said on Tuesday.
The Investigative Committee claimed to have obtained “facts” suggesting that Gasparian pledged to help an embattled businessman avoid bankruptcy in return for his pre-election support for the HHK.
The businessman owned two companies that operated commuter bus services between Yerevan and the nearby towns of Abovian and Charentsavan. The companies started incurring serious losses and eventually went bankrupt after he fell out with Gagik Tsarukian, a much wealthier entrepreneur leading a major political party.
Tsarukian’s charity provided free bus services on the same routes in an apparent effort to drive his rival out of business. The tycoon acquired the two public transport firms in 2015.
A statement by the Investigative Committee claimed that in the run-up to the 2012 elections Gasparian offered to help the troubled businessman if the latter earns votes for the ruling HHK. To that end, it said, Gasparian introduced him to police officials and HHK functionaries from Abovian so that they “work together.” That amounted to abuse of power, added the statement.
The committee has not brought criminal charges against Gasparian, however. It said it has instead sent the case to another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative Service (SIS), for further investigation.
Gasparian, who ran the national police service from 2011-2018, rejected the allegations as “completely false and slanderous” through his lawyer, Tigran Atanesian. “I am sure that an objective criminal investigation would refute those claims,” Atanesian wrote on Facebook.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sacked Gasparian two days after taking office on May 8.