Pashinian insisted last week that they did not exploit their government connections to win tenders for road construction and procurements. Opposition figures and civil society members remain unconvinced by these assurances.
As an outspoken opposition politician, Pashinian had for years alleged corrupt practices in the administration of tenders won by individuals connected to Armenia’s former governments. He claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” in the country after coming to power in 2018.
Critics now question the integrity of some procurements handled by Pashinian’s administration.
A road design company belonging to Bagrat Badalian, the deputy chief of the government staff, is a case in point. Badalian joined the government shortly after the 2018 “velvet revolution,” first as a deputy minister for local government and later as chief of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian’s staff.
The company called Channakhagits Institut had been founded by his father Samvel in 1995. The latter handed over his 88 percent share in it to Bagrat in 2020.
The most recent official records available show that Channakhagits won four government contracts in 2017. Its fortunes improved dramatically in 2020.
Over the past two years the company has secured highway design services worth a combined 677 million drams ($1.4 million). It won 21 government tenders in 2021 alone.
Speaking at a December 24 news conference, Pashinian denied that Channakhagits enjoys privileged treatment because of Badalian’s government positions. He said that it is one of the most qualified firms of its kind in Armenia.
Pashinian also ruled out privileged treatment of a road construction company which is run by the brother of Alen Simonian, the Armenian parliament speaker and a leading member of the ruling Civil Contract party.
The company called Euroasphalt had an authorized capital of just over $100 when it was founded by two little-known individuals less than two years ago. It won in 2021 three government contracts for rural road construction worth a total of 748 million drams ($1.5 million).
Speaking with journalists in September, then Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikian insisted that the contracts resulted from fair and transparent tenders. Simonian afterwards condemned media outlets for questioning the integrity of those deals.
Pashinian said, for his part, that the speaker’s brother Karlen is only the chief executive of Euroasphalt and does not own it.
It emerged in October that one of the company’s two officially registered addresses is the same as that of a Yerevan apartment where Simonian’s mother currently lives. The other address could not be located.
Karlen Simonian is also the deputy director of another firm that supplies concrete to builders. An Armenian civic group revealed recently that it donated over $10,000 to Pashinian’s party in the run-up to the June 2021 parliamentary elections.
Alen Simonian raised eyebrows when he appointed a businessman and friend of his as chief of the Armenian parliament staff days after becoming its speaker in August. The businessman, Vahan Naribekian, owns the Argavand Kahuyk company supplying furniture to the National Assembly and various government and law-enforcement agencies.
Argavand Kahuyk has earned 250 million drams ($520,000) from 152 supply contracts secured since the 2018 regime change. Nineteen of them were signed after Naribekian became the chief of the parliament staff.
In a recent interview with the Hetq.am investigative publication, Naribekian claimed that his company has done much better since Pashinian’s rise to power because the current authorities handle the procurement process more fairly.
Varuzhan Hoktanian, the program coordinator at the Armenian affiliate of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, said, however, that the authorities lack the “political will” to substantiate such claims with more detailed information. Pashinian’s comments on the issue did not dispel concerns about possible government corruption, Hoktanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Pashinian also pledged to separate business from politics when he swept to power during the 2018 mass protests. He stated shortly afterwards that Armenian entrepreneurs no longer need to hold parliament seats in order to protect and increase their assets.
Two wealthy businessmen, Khachatur Sukiasian and Gurgen Arsenian, were elected to the current National Assembly on the ruling party’s ticket in June. Sukiasian and his extended family have reportedly expanded their business interests since 2018.
Hetq.am reported in October that a fuel importing company linked to Sukiasian has signed with the Armenian Defense Ministry supply contracts worth $14 million since being set up in early 2020.