Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his son were detained on Tuesday in a corruption investigation, according to local authorities.
Armenia's Anti-Corruption Committee said Kocharyan, acting with people close to him, used his official position to acquire valuable state properties through fabricated pretexts and at prices significantly below market value.
Investigators said the properties were registered under affiliated companies to conceal their ownership and origins before being developed, sold, or transferred to third parties.
Investigators also said that 56 properties valued at 2.634 billion Armenian drams ($7.2 millions) were allegedly transferred to Kocharyan as bribes.
"To conceal their true ownership and origin, the objects were registered under official sales contracts in the names of members of the former president's family and associated organizations," the statement said.
Land belonging to Armenia's Defense Ministry was allegedly sold to a company linked to a person close to the former president at one-quarter of its market value. Investigators said a 30% stake in Toyota Yerevan was allegedly transferred to the then-president as a bribe and later registered in his son's name through sham sale agreements to conceal its origin.
Six people have been detained in the case.
Authorities are also examining financial transfers to Kocharyan's son in 2001-2019 of sums of around 144 billion drams ($397 million), $309 million, €77 million ($90 million), and 18 million Russian rubles ($212,950), as well as the acquisition of more than three dozen real estate properties in Armenia and abroad, owned by persons associated with the case and their family members.
"In order to prevent the possible transfer or alienation of assets, appropriate measures were taken to impose a lien on them," the statement said.
Kocharyan served as Armenia's president from 1998 to 2008.
He has previously faced criminal charges, including over a 2008 crackdown on protests and bribery allegations. Both cases were dropped in 2021.
He faced new corruption charges this summer in a case involving the lease of a plot of land in the capital Yerevan in 2004. Kocharyan, whose Armenia Alliance placed third in parliamentary elections this June, also lost his parliamentary immunity that month.
