Yerevan law enforcement arrested former Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan today on charges of money laundering, abuse of official authority, and illegal business activity.

Abramyan served as prime minister from April 2014 to September 2016. From May 2012 to April 2014, he was the president of Armenia’s parliament.

This is not the first time Abrahamyan, who has extensive business holdings in Armenia, has been charged with such crimes.

In 2023, Abrahamyan was charged with illegally using his official powers to take control of a company engaged in sand mining in Armenia and receiving profits amounting to AMD 230.4 million (US$593,400).

In 2019, Armenia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case charging several former government officials, including Abrahamyan, with exploiting the power of their office to privatize more than fifty hectares of land, some of it state-owned forest, in Armenia’s Tzaghkadzor region.

See: Former Armenian Officials and Their Associates Privatize Fifty Hectares of Forested Lands

See: All In the Family: Armenian Prime Minister’s Booming Business Empire