Armenian Lawmaker Accused Of Bribery

The National Assembly is scheduled to discuss the prosecutors’ motion on Tuesday. With many of its members currently campaigning for reelection in the December 9 polls, it is not clear whether the 101-seat parliament will make a quorum. Besides, its largest faction is controlled by the HHK.

The HHK’s deputy chairman, Armen Ashotyan, denounced the criminal proceedings as politically motivated “selective justice” and a pre-election “dirty ploy” by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Ashotyan said that they were deliberately timed to coincide with the election campaign. The authorities could have easily waited until the outgoing parliament’s tenure expires on December 24, he said.

Ashotyan went on to claim that Pashinyan is thereby trying to reverse a drop in his approval ratings. “Nikol Pashinyan’s approval rating is falling because the HHK is opening people’s eyes,” he said in a live Facebook transmission. “The HHK is reminding you, dear compatriots, of promises not kept by Pashinyan. This is what has made Pashinyan jittery.”

Pashinyan denied, however, any connection between the parliamentary race and the criminal case against the HHK parliamentarian. He said that investigators needed more than three months to obtain from an unspecified foreign government documentary evidence of cash transfers made to Harutyunyan’s offshore bank accounts.

Speaking at a campaign rally, the premier said he therefore hopes that the parliament will give the green light to Harutyunyan’s prosecution. But he also stressed that their failure to do so would only briefly delay his arrest.