Shirgholami also expressed hope for a compromise settlement of Tsarukian’s dispute with Iranian entrepreneurs which is at the heart of fraud and money laundering charges levelled against him right after his demonstrative arrest on Monday.
The arrest followed a 12-hour search conducted at his villa by law-enforcement authorities. They also raided dozens of companies owned by Tsarukian and halted their operations in a crackdown widely linked to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s repeated pledges to jail and “dispossess” his political foes.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee claims that Tsarukian led a “criminal group” that misappropriated $22 million worth of fuel, transport equipment and other goods supplied by his Iranian business partners from 2022-2024. His lawyers say he himself was defrauded by the Iranians and alerted the law-enforcement authorities about that.
The accusations stem from a large Iranian shopping center set up in September 2024 by Tsarukian’s Multi Group and Iran’s ParsHilal Caspian Group. The 18,000-square-meter facility located just outside Yerevan was inaugurated during a ceremony attended by Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan and Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Atabak.
It was announced at the time that the Iran Trade Center will consist of over 100 sections selling mostly Iranian-made consumer goods, chemicals and other industrial products. However, those plans never materialized due to what Shirgholami described as “certain economic differences” between the center’s two co-founders.
Senior Armenian and Iranian officials inaugurate the Iran Trade Center at Gagik Tsarukian’s Arinj Mall outside Yerevan, September 30, 2024.
“I have personally had many discussions with both parties, willing to act as a mediator in order to try to reach an agreement through compromise,” the envoy told a news conference. “Up until recently, I was in contact with the parties and tried to find a solution that would be acceptable to both parties. Since we are currently dealing with a legal process, we hope that it will be possible to resolve this issue based on the available evidence and testimony.”
Shirgholami went on to stress in the same context that Iran does not meddle in Armenia’s internal political affairs. But citing Iran’s own political experience, he also warned: “When a certain division is created within a country under the influence of a particular event, it can never bring good results.”
“We hope and wish that all the forces of Armenia — both the ruling party, the government and the opposition — can be united around national interests and goals. Because if there is no unity, then further paths of development are not possible. Iran wants to see a strong, united and consolidated Armenia,” added the diplomat.
Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) was one of the three main opposition groups that challenged Pashinian’s Civil Contract party in last month’s parliamentary elections and rejected their official results as fraudulent. Pashinian vowed to jail their top leaders before and after the June 7 elections. Dozens of other opposition figures are already under arrest, facing criminal charges which they too reject as politically motivated.
