Businessman and Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan has been detained on charges of organising large-scale fraud and money laundering.

Axar.az reports, citing Armenpress, that according to the Armenian Investigative Committee, evidence obtained in one of the criminal proceedings being investigated by its Main Department for the Investigation of Economic Crimes and Smuggling indicates that, between 2022 and 2024, several individuals allegedly committed large-scale fraud and large-scale money laundering under the organisation of Gagik Tsarukyan.

According to the investigation, members of the alleged criminal group organised and led by Tsarukyan reached agreements with Iranian citizens to develop Iran-Armenia trade relations and established joint legal entities for that purpose.

The statement alleges that, under the guise of establishing a logistics and freight transport link between Iran and Armenia, the group fraudulently imported 52 vehicles, machinery, fuel and various other goods from companies owned by Iranian entrepreneurs. It further alleges that the suspects falsified customs import declarations and other official documents to conceal the imports and misappropriated property worth about 8.127 billion drams (equivalent to approximately $21.073 million).

Investigators further allege that the group laundered the proceeds by falsifying import documents, transferring part of the goods using forged documentation, selling the assets and mixing the proceeds with legitimate business income in order to conceal the criminal origin of the property and funds.