Pashinyan says Armenia to take control of Tsarukyan-linked cement factory

By Siranush Adamyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday at a campaign stop in Lori that the government would soon take control of the Ararat Cement factory linked to opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

Speaking at a campaign event, Pashinyan said the factory, which he described as Tsarukyan’s “business backbone”, would become state property following what he called the exposure of a “Guloyan-Tsarukyan mafia scheme.”

Referring to former Kotayk governor and Tsarukyan’s son-in-law Karapet Guloyan, the prime minister said the Armenian government had received a notice from the Prosecutor General’s Office stating that the property was subject to nationalization.

“Just as we appointed a manager at the Electric Networks of Armenia, we will also appoint a manager at Ararat Cement very soon,” Pashinyan said.

He added that factory employees “no longer need to follow any instructions from Tsarukyan or Guloyan,” arguing that “their employer is now the Republic of Armenia.”

Armenia has only two cement plants, the Ararat Cement factory and the Hrazdan Cement factory, the latter of which has been operating at only minimal capacity in recent years.

Tsarukyan and members of his family are currently involved in ongoing illicit asset forfeiture proceedings. According to materials published on Armenia’s Datakex judicial information system, the state is seeking the confiscation of 237,753 shares in Ararat Cement owned by the Tsarukyan family, among other assets.

No court ruling related to the nationalization of Ararat Cement has been published on the judicial platform.

Tsarukyan has not yet publicly responded to Pashinyan’s remarks. Earlier, however, the opposition leader claimed the election campaign was being conducted in an atmosphere of fear and threats of dismissal from work.

Earlier last year, the Armenian government moved to take operational control of Electric Networks of Armenia, the country’s main electricity distributor owned by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan. Authorities appointed a temporary external manager after accusing the company of financial mismanagement and failures in service delivery, in a move critics described as politically motivated. Karapetyan’s party is considered the main contender of Pashinyan in the June parliamentary elections.