Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced plans to remove a legal settlement mechanism that allows individuals facing proceedings over allegedly illicit assets to keep part of the property’s value after reaching an agreement with the state.

Under the current system, introduced in 2020, defendants can settle such cases by transferring 75% of the assessed value of the property to the state while retaining the remaining 25%. Pashinyan said on September 11 that he had instructed the government to abolish the provision, arguing that those facing confiscation proceedings had already been given sufficient time to reach settlements.

Pashinyan emphasized that the future cases would require the full value of the property to be returned to the state. Armenian Prime Minister also noted that interest accumulated on the amount would be included, meaning defendants would no longer be able to retain the 25% share available under the current arrangement.

The Armenian Ministry of Justice confirmed that a draft amendment has already been prepared. Following the required procedures, the proposal is expected to be submitted to parliament for consideration and public discussion.

The measure is significant because several high-profile opposition figures and businessmen are involved in asset confiscation proceedings. Among those named in such cases are former Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, businessman and politician Gagik Tsarukyan, and former State Revenue Committee chief Gagik Khachaturyan.

Since the 2020 law entered into force, 11 settlement agreements have been concluded, according to Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office. These agreements resulted in eight immovable and two movable properties being transferred to the state, with the total value of the settlements reaching about 5.5 billion drams, or more than $15 million.

The scale of the broader cases is considerably larger. According to figures presented by Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan in March 2026, 166 asset confiscation lawsuits were pending in Armenian courts, with claims exceeding 600 billion drams, or roughly $1.5 billion.

Pashinyan has portrayed the planned change as a tightening of the state’s approach to the recovery of allegedly illicit assets, while critics have argued that the process disproportionately affects political opponents of the government.