Armenian court orders opposition figure Tsarukyan’s cement plant be placed un

Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court has ordered billionaire and opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan’s Ararat Cement plant be placed under state management, and the prosecution is seeking the confiscation of other properties, assets, and cash belonging to Tsarukyan. The move comes days after Tsarukyan was arrested on money laundering charges and a number of his businesses and properties, including the cement plant, were raided.

Earlier in July, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said ‘Ararat Cement will very soon become state-owned, and a manager will be appointed according to the established procedure’. He did not specify a timetable at the time.

It was not the first time Pashinyan had discussed nationalising the plant — prior to the parliamentary elections on 7 June, he described the factory as the ‘backbone’ of Tsarukyan’s business empire and alleged irregularities had occurred in its privatisation in the early 2000s.

The Anti-Corruption Court’s decision on Thursday granted a petition filed three days earlier by the Prosecutor General’s Office to confiscate the plant on the grounds it had been illegally acquired.

The prosecution is also seeking the confiscation of 75 properties belonging to Tsarukyan, 42 vehicles, shares in 38 legal entities, and just shy of ֏106 billion ($289 million) in funds.

Gagik Tsarukyan campaigning in the Tavush region of Armenia in May 2026. Photo via social media.

Tsarukyan has been under investigation since 9  June, a mere two days after Armenians took to the polls to vote in parliamentary elections.

At the time, Prosperous Armenia was still awaiting the outcome of vote recounts which would have determined whether it entered parliament. The Central Election Commission (CEC) later announced that the opposition party failed to pass the 4% electoral threshold to secure seats in the legislature.

Tsarukyan had apparently attempted to leave the country through Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport before being placed under investigation, but was barred from doing so.

Tsarukyan is one of the wealthiest men in Armenian politics. Having begun his business career in food processing during the 1990s, over three decades he has amassed a stake in a wide variety of industries throughout Armenia, including alcohol and food production, casinos, hotels, mineral extraction, pharmaceuticals, and most recently, bitcoin mining.

The eccentric tycoon has previously been charged with a number of crimes. In 2020, the authorities accused him of electoral bribery allegedly committed in the 2017 elections. He was also under investigation for operating the Shangri La casino without a license. Armenia revoked the Shangri La’s license in late June.

Additionally, Tsarukyan was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping two women in 1979. According to RFE/RL, it is not clear whether Tsarukyan served the sentence imposed by the Soviet-era court.

In 2001, during Robert Kocharyan’s presidency, the Armenian Court of Cassation overturned the verdict, exonerating Tsarukyan.