The family of arrested former Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian on Tuesday accused Armenian authorities of illegally trying to force it to sell its controlling stake in one of Armenia’s leading telecommunication and information technology companies at a knockdown price.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was quick to respond to the claim, saying through a spokeswoman that Khachatrian and his relatives must return hundreds of millions dollars “stolen from the people.”
Khachatrian and his family have extensive business interests in Armenia. The most important of their assets is Ucom, one of the country’s three mobile phone operators and largest Internet and cable TV provider. The ex-minister’s two sons and a nephew own a combined 77 percent of the Ucom stock. One of the sons, Gurgen Khachatrian, is also the chairman of the company’s board of directors.
In a written statement, Gurgen Khachatrian claimed that “high-ranking” Armenian officials have threatened to arrest him if he and his brother refuse to cede control of Ucom and another major IT firm.
“The threats have reached a point where they have promised to create an uncontrollable situation in the companies, as a result of which, according to them, we will have to agree to sell at the lowest possible price,” said Khachatrian.
“Seeing that the attempts to sabotage the company were futile and we were able to manage the situation, in the last couple of days they have presented a direct demand to alienate Ucom and made clear that in case of not complying [with the demand] I will be accused of committing a particularly serious crime and arrested, which will then be followed by similar actions against my brother, other family members, relatives and other people related to us,” he said.
Khachatrian added that he will not bow to the “pressure exerted through the abuse of political power and legal instruments.” “Ucom is not for sale, neither is our dignity,” he declared.
Armenia -- The entrance to a Ucom office, Yerevan, December 30, 2019.
The statement also urged Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, business associations as well as Yerevan-based foreign ambassadors to “follow this process and assess it accordingly.”
Pashinian’s press secretary, Mane Gevorgian, scoffed at the allegations. In a Facebook post, she described Gagik Khachatrian as a “corrupt” former official who had made a huge fortune while serving as finance minister from 2014-2016 and holding senior positions in the Armenian tax and customs services in the preceding decades.
“According to the Armenian government’s information, Gagik Khachatrian and his sons headed a corrupt mafia system that had long operated in Armenia, as a result of which they accumulated illegal wealth worth several hundred million dollars,” wrote Gevorgian. “The prime minister’s position is that this loot must be returned to the state in full.”
The official stressed in that regard that relevant authorities will allow the Khachatrians to sell their Ucom stake only if they agree to transfer all proceeds from such a deal to the government.
Late last month, law-enforcement authorities froze the family’s business assets as part of their continuing corruption investigation into the former minister arrested last August. His son claimed that the move was part of the government efforts to dispossess his family.
Gurgen Khachatrian made the allegations shortly after Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) effectively accused his father of having received, while in government, a $22 million bribe from Sedrak Arustamian, the top manager of companies belonging to businessman Gagik Tsarukian.
Armenia -- Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian attends a parliament session in Yerevan, November 16, 2015.
An NSS statement said that Arustamian, who was arrested late last week, had paid the bribe in return for ensuring privileged treatment of those companies by tax authorities. It claimed that the payments took the form of two bogus loans provided to the ex-minister. “At the initiative” of his sons, the money was transferred to foreign bank accounts of companies linked to the Khachatrians, added the security service.
Arustamian’s lawyer confirmed on Monday that his client had lent the hefty sum to two other individuals. He insisted, however, that it was a commercial transaction, not a kickback.
Gurgen Khachatrian did not comment on the NSS claims. His lawyers could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Early this month, Ucom’s chief executive, Hayk Yesayan, and hundreds of other employees supporting him tendered their resignations. Yesayan and his brother Aleksandr, who have a 6 percent stake in Ucom, at the same time offered to buy the rest of the company from the Khachatrian brothers and the other shareholders for 34 billion drams ($70 million).
The majority shareholders rejected the offer and replaced Yesayan with another chief executive.
Ucom, which employs around 1,800 people, was founded in 2008 and became Armenia’s leading Internet and cable TV provider in the following years. In 2015, it purchased one of the country’s three mobile phone networks from the French telecom giant Orange.