During a press briefing on Thursday, Pashinian said he had instructed law-enforcement authorities to question people over media reports alleging that shops in Armenia’s provinces had been acquired on the instructions of his wife, Anna Hakobian, and subsequently turned into “88” supermarkets.
“I have instructed them to question those people one by one,” Pashinian said, adding that he had repeatedly demanded that authorities investigate the allegations and that his response would be “harsh” if evidence was found that the businessman, Narek Nalbandian, was attempting to link himself to his family.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office confirmed later in the day that a criminal case concerning the activities of the “88” supermarket chain had been initiated still in February. It did not provide details on the article of the Criminal Code under which the proceedings were launched or which body is currently investigating it.
Nalbandian has been repeatedly linked in media reports to Hakobian in recent months. The reports alleged that shops in Armenia’s provinces were being taken from their owners and subsequently turned into “88” supermarkets with Hakobian’s approval.
Hakobian denied the allegations last year, saying she had no connection with Nalbandian’s supermarket chain. She even called for a boycott of the stores allegedly linked to her name and filed a report with the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which took up the matter.
Pashinian said he was particularly angered by Nalbandian’s alleged failure to publicly deny any connection with his family.
“I am surprised that he doesn’t deny it,” he said. This really gets on our nerves.”
Nalbandian issued a denial shortly after Pashinian’s remarks, blaming “various groups” for “repeatedly seeking to link my name and business projects to Pashinian, members of his family or former officials.”
“I have repeatedly denied these reports and once again clearly state today that I have no personal, family or business ties with any current or former political figures or any political force,” Nalbandian said.
Nalbandian, whose business holdings expanded dramatically after Armenia’s 2018 “velvet revolution,” which brought Pashinian to power, has built a diverse business portfolio spanning supermarkets, hotels, factories, agricultural enterprises, mines and other assets.
Nalbandian has described himself as being portrayed by some people as the authorities’ “favorite oligarch.”
He first attracted wider public attention after buying the Golden Palace hotel in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor from former Customs Committee chief Armen Avetisian following the 2018 change of power. The hotel, later renamed “88”, had been surrendered to the state by Avetisian, who was involved in a criminal proceeding, and was subsequently sold by the state to Nalbandian. The investigative publication Hetq reported that Nalbandian bought the property in 2022 on preferential terms.
That same year, Nalbandian also purchased a mansion in an upscale Yerevan district that was owned by former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian. Media reports put the sale price at $5 million.
The transaction took place despite prosecutors’ ban on the Cadaster Committee to carry out any deal involving the property, which had been recognized as material evidence in a criminal case.
The deal has also been repeatedly criticized by the opposition, which has accused Pashinian of transferring property confiscated from former officials not to the public but to his “favorite oligarch.”
“People have for years claimed that Hovik Abrahamian’s villa was illegally acquired and must be returned to the public, but over the course of years it turned out that the public’s name is Narek Nalbandian,” opposition Hayastan alliance lawmaker Anna Grigorian said sarcastically in one of her recent speeches in parliament.
Pashinian, meanwhile, said on September 3 that his family had no business interests in Armenia or abroad and that all of their assets had been listed in the annual income declaration.