Approximately $750,000 worth of property and $190,000 will be returned to the state
By a decision of the Anti-Corruption Court, it has been ruled to confiscate property of illegal origin from Suren Vachik Gabrielyan and his associates in favor of the Republic of Armenia. He is accused of laundering around 10 million euros in an Armenian-Russian-Iranian scheme. According to the court ruling, the confiscated assets include an apartment in the Kentron administrative district of Yerevan, a residential house in the Arinj community of the Kotayk region, with a total average market value of 300 million 650 thousand drams (approximately $750,000), as well as monetary sums of 56 million 667 thousand drams (approximately $141,000) and 50 thousand euros.
Suren Gabrielyan’s wife and daughter are also involved in the same case. Another participant, former director of HayBusinessBank Ara Kirakosyan, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for money laundering.
Suren Gabrielyan previously held the position of head of the Special Programs Department under the Government. He has denied the accusations against him and, as a result, escaped from the Nork Infectious Diseases Hospital in 2014. He claimed that he sold nickel in Iran, which he brought from Switzerland. And stated that his income originated from these activities.
It should be noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office initiated an investigation into Suren Gabrielyan’s properties on October 9, 2020. He was declared wanted; however, his lawyer claims that Gabrielyan passed away in Switzerland.