The Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia satisfied the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office, recognizing as invalid the ownership rights of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia (NAOC) headed by the big businessman and politician Gagik Tsarukyan to the 225-hectare plot of land adjacent to the Tsaghkadzor cable car.

The area worth more than 36 billion drams was transferred to the sports structure in December 2005. Gagik Tsarukyan has been leading the NAOC without change since 2004, so for almost two decades this large infrastructure asset has actually been under the management of the structure headed by him. As a result of the court investigation, it was recorded that the expropriation of the property was carried out in violation of the requirements of the land legislation. The court ruled that at the time of allocating the site, the legal grounds for transferring the state property to the committee were actually absent.

After the judicial act enters into legal force, it is planned to officially return the plot to the state balance sheet. However, the legal process is not over yet. The representatives of the committee led by Tsarukyan do not agree with the decision and have already filed an appeal.

—