Two former governors of Armenia’s southern Ararat province have accused each other of serious criminal offenses, triggering an investigation by law-enforcement authorities.
The Investigative Committee reported on Wednesday that Alik Sargsian, who ran the region from 2000-2008, claimed last week to have been for years blackmailed by another, unnamed ex-governor. According to the committee, Sargsian said the latter threatened to disseminate compromising information about him unless he pays $60,000.
In a statement, the law-enforcement body said that the ex-governor alleged for his part that in 2008 he paid Sargsian to help a young man work for the Armenian police. He claimed that Sargsian, who was the chief of the national police service at the time, accepted the bribe but did not hire the man, said the statement.
The committee added that it has opened a criminal case under corresponding articles of the Armenian Criminal Code. It said the case has been transferred to another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative Service (SIS), because it involves two former high-ranking officials. Neither man has been charged yet.
Sargsian is currently a member of the Armenian parliament affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). It is not yet clear which of his predecessors claims to have bribed him a decade ago.
Sargsian had succeeded as Ararat governor Hovik Abrahamian, who served as Armenia’s prime minister from 2014-2016.
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