Ararat Cement offices sealed after searches

PanARMENIAN.Net - Investigative actions at the Araratcement plant have been completed, and employees of Armenia's Investigative Committee have left the premises. However, the entrance to the administrative building and its offices remain sealed, Acting Director General Artyom Poghosyan said, according to Sputnik Armenia, citing Kentron TV.

“At around 7:30 a.m., they launched a large-scale operation all at once, frightening security personnel, using force, and threatening to arrest them.

The factory operates in shifts. Employees who were already on site were removed, while those arriving for the next shift were not allowed to enter, effectively paralyzing the operations of a factory employing more than 1,000 people,” Poghosyan said.

According to him, Investigative Committee officers presented a court order that, he said, stated searches of the offices and adjacent premises were not authorized.

“When we pointed out that section, they replied: ‘We are carrying out our actions. Go ahead and file a complaint,’” Poghosyan said.

He argued that the situation has caused significant damage to the factory's operations.

Poghosyan highlighted concerns over wages for more than 1,000 employees and said cement loading operations have also been halted. According to him, this could also disrupt construction projects across the country.

Investigative Committee personnel have now left the site.

Poghosyan said nothing had been seized from the factory, but it remains unclear how operations will continue while the doors to the administrative building remain sealed.

Since early morning, searches have been conducted at the home of Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan, as well as at a number of properties linked to him, including the Olympavan sports complex, the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory, hotels, the Araratcement plant, and other locations.

The Investigative Committee has said simultaneous searches are being carried out at more than 70 locations as part of more than a dozen criminal investigations.

On May 20, during a campaign event in the Shnogh community of Lori Province, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Araratcement, which he described as the backbone of Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan's business empire, would soon become state property and be placed under temporary management. Tsarukyan later responded that if the current authorities seized the factory, the entire state would bear responsibility because it is private property. Also on May 20, Armenia's Prosecutor's Office announced that violations had been identified in the privatization process of Araratcement.