Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court, overruling a lower court’s verdict, has issued a ruling that former Armenian culture minister Hasmik Poghosyan must pay AMD 25 million ($65,600) in compensation because of the improper execution of the contracts she signed as minister in 2007 and 2008 with the Gugark company for the implementation of restoration works at the Kobayravank monastery complex under the Monuments Restoration Program.

Poghosyan, who served as culture minister from 2006 to 2016, has been charged with various violations prior to this.

In 2024, Armenia’s Prosecutor General Office (PGO) requested the courts to confiscate one billion drams (US$2.482M) from Poghosyan, claiming she purchased several properties with illegally acquired funds.

The PGO sent the case to the country’s Anti-Corruption Court for adjudication.

Hetq, in 2015, revealed that Poghosyan and then Armenian Ambassador to Israel Armen Smbatyan, forged documents to acquire a two-story downtown Yerevan building colloquially known as AOKS. (AOKS is the Russian acronym for the Armenian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries – ASRFC.)

The building and land were then sold to an offshore company, owned by Poghosyan’s daughter-in-law, for $550,000.

In 2021, Armenia’s Investigative Committee issued an arrest warrant for Poghosyan, charging her with abuse of power and money laundering. She then fled Armenia for parts unknown and is still on the run.