The Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Wednesday that Tsarukian recently sold his bottling plant in Bulgaria for 23 million euros ($26.7 million) in breach of an Armenian court’s decision to freeze his assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The law-enforcement agency moved to confiscate them in late 2023, invoking a controversial law that allows the state to seize money, property and companies deemed to have been acquired illegally. The court issued the injunction at the time pending a ruling on the case.
The prosecutors say that the asset freeze also applied to Tsarukian’s holdings abroad. The 69-year-old tycoon will face up to one year in prison if found guilty of the new charge. He did not react to his latest indictment as of Wednesday afternoon.
Tsarukian has already been standing trial on vote buying charges that were levelled against him in 2020 after he and his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation. He has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
The BHK had the second largest group in the country’s former parliament. But it failed to win any parliament seats in the last general elections held in June 2021. Tsarukian has kept a low profile since then.
Tsarukian announced in October that he and his political allies will participate in the next elections due in June 2026. He indicated that he is negotiating with unnamed political groups and individuals interested in entering into an electoral alliance with him. He gave no details, saying only that the alliance will champion his “Proposal to Armenia” platform.