The former longtime mayor of the central Armenian town of Hrazdan affiliated with former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling public funds.
The Investigative Committee said that Aram Danielian’s arrest stems from its ongoing inquiry into misuse of land and property taxes collected by the Hrazdan municipality in 2015-2018. It gave no other details.
Also arrested was Samvel Grigorian, the former head of a municipality division tasked with tax collection.
A spokesman for the Hrazdan mayor’s office told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that a recent audit of the municipality books conducted by a private firm detected financial irregularities worth nearly 139 million drams ($286,000). He could not say whether Danielian’s arrest is directly connected with that.
Danielian ran the town located 45 kilometers north of Yerevan for over 15 years. He resigned in July two months after Sarkisian was ousted from power during the “velvet revolution” led by Nikol Pashinian, Armenia’s current prime minister.
Danielian said then that he wants to ensure that Hrazdan “doesn’t suffer” from the regime change in Yerevan. He admitted at the same time that his resignation was “recommended” by the new provincial governor named by Pashinian.
A 25-year-old son of Sasun Mikaelian, a top Pashinian ally, was subsequently elected as Hrazdan’s new mayor. Sasun Mikaelian was Danielian’s main challenger in the previous mayoral election held in 2016. He accused the incumbent of buying votes and abusing administrative resources. The HHK denied the allegations.
Danielian was again put on the defensive in 2017 after his teenage son Razmik was charged with running over and killing a man with a car belonging to the Hrazdan municipality. The 16-year-old not only avoided imprisonment but was also among more than 100 schoolchildren who received medals for academic excellence from Sarkisian later in 2017.
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