The wealthy businessman and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party (BHK), the second-largest faction in the Armenian parliament, Gagik Tsarukyan, is in danger of losing his parliamentary seat in the National Assembly as a result of an inquiry ordered by prosecutors.

In a report submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor-General on 29 April, the Citizen’s Decision, a small pro-government party claimed that Tsarukyan may be violating the constitutional conditions of his membership in the National Assembly with his entrepreneurial activity. The Secretary of the executive body of the Citizen’s Decision party, Suren Sahakyan, submitted the report to the Attorney General, Artur Davtyan, with the request to start a criminal persecution against Gagik Tsarukyan. The Citizen’s Decision representative demanded the suspension of Tsarukyan’s parliamentary activity, as according to the law, a member of parliament cannot conduct any entrepreneurship activities.

In a separate letter to the speaker of parliament, Ararat Mirzoyan, the Citizen’s Contract called for the creation of an ad hoc parliamentary commission that would look into the issue and, if necessary, ask the Constitutional Court to strip Tsarukyan of his parliamentary seat. “The attention of the law enforcement bodies has been drawn to the issue and it was proposed to me to form an ad hoc ethics committee to deal with the issue. Taking into consideration that the acting legal regulations set a wide political framework for the creation and operation of the ethics committee and may give room for different interpretations, and the circumstance that the creation of such committee is not within the authorities of the NA speaker, I think you should at least give comprehensive public clarifications on the issue”, Mirzoyan said in a letter addressed to Tsarukyan.

Tsarukyan is the owner of Armenia’s largest cement plant which is increasingly struggling to compete with cheaper cement imported from neighboring Iran. On 18 April the National Assembly debated a government proposal to impose tariffs on cement imported to Armenia. The tycoon and his allies said the proposed measure is not far-reaching enough to protect domestic cement manufacturers.  Tsarukyan generally criticized the Pashinyan government’s economic policies, saying that they have not attracted major investments and boosted the living standards in the country.

Tsarukyan and his associates maintain that while the BHK leader owns dozens of businesses they are not run by him on a day-to-day basis. A senior BHK lawmaker, Sergey Bagratian, essentially dismissed the demand. He said that it is on the authorities to prove that Tsarukyan has violated the constitution. Vahe Enfiajian, another senior BHK figure, did not deny a newspaper report from 2 May which stated that all other 25 BHK deputies will resign from the 132-member parliament if their leader loses the seat.

The members of the ruling My Step bloc call for calmness in regards to the entire situation. Ruben Rubinyan, a lawmaker from the My Step faction, said that more time is needed to analyze the facts and form a public opinion on the current situation. “Before making any political decision it is necessary to discuss all the circumstances and ensure that everything is being done within the limits of logic and legitimacy,” he said.

On 6 May, Tsarukyan replied to the letter which was submitted to him by Mirzoyan. He stressed that after assuming the parliamentary mandate he passed all his property to a trust management as it is required by the law. He also stressed that for years he used his personal ties and authority for the sake of developing Armenia’s economy and that he is ready to continue doing so along the vision of the Prosperous Armenia party.

Tsarukyan’s BHK supported the Pashinyan-led mass protests that toppled the country’s former government in 2018. The party helped Pashinyan become prime minister and joined his first cabinet formed in May 2018.The tensions between the BHK and Pashinyan’s My Step faction arose in October 2018 when Pashinyan fired the ministers affiliated with the BHK under the suspicion that the BHK secretly collaborated with the former ruling Republican Party.