Control Chamber’s Hayk Beglaryan Involved in Real Estate Deal: Are Laws Being Violated?

The same destiny that befell countless residents of downtown Yerevan now threatens to destroy the lives of a family living at Buzand Street #83. According to Decision N108, adopted by the RoA government on January 1, 2007, the property that their house now sits on has been declared a “public domain” site.

It has been sold to Hayk Beglaryan, son of noted businessman Barsegh Beglaryan, who owns the “Flash” chain of gas stations. On December 9, employees of the CES (Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts; an arm of the Ministry of Justice), invaded the home of one of the families residing at Buzand Street #83, threw them out into the street and proceeded to demolish the apartment. The CES employees had a writ to evict the Abrahamyan’s. The family has been paid compensation in the amount of 33 million AMD (about $86,000). The money is sitting in a government escrow account and can be withdrawn at any time. At first, the family was offered 36 million AMD for the 66 square meter house and the 78 square meter lot it sat on, but the Abrahamyan’s refused this initial offer. Afterwards, the "Bureau of Construction and Investment Program Implementation” (BCIPI) went to the courts, demanding that the property be registered as sold via compensation and that the residents be forcibly evicted, if necessary. Their suit was sustained. The evicted family, Viloleta Sahakyan, her daughter-in-law and four grandchildren now live with different relatives. “I have four children. We haven’t been able to all go to one house and be together. We’ve split up and I’ve been separated from my kids,” says Naira Abrahamyan. Her mother-in-law, Violeta, moved in with her other son also living at Buzand #83. The CES visited them on December 9 and wanted to demolish the place as well but they couldn’t since they didn’t have proper authorization. On the day we arrived, Violeta Sahakyan was moving stuff to her son’s home left at the neighbors. Her other daughter-in-law, Nuneh Hambardzumyan described how the BCIPI was able to obtain the property at Buzand #83 for businessman Hayk Beglaryan.

Authorities create bureaucratic hurdles for family

Nuneh said that the house had been originally built in 1915 with further work carried out up till the 1970’s. “In 1998 we split the property up. The portion where my husband’s brother and family had been living was privatized but we weren’t permitted to do the same for our section. They argued that the house wasn’t up to standard. Later, we renovated the place and went back in 2002 to have it privatized. They refused again. This time they stated that the house was included in the ‘red zone’,” she added. The father of the household, Roland Abrahamyan, was given a private property deed in 1998, noting the existence of the secondary structure nearby. It’s the house in which Nuneh Hambardzumyan’s family still resides. In 2005, after Roland Abrahamyan had passed away, the BCIPI forced the family to procure a new property deed not bearing the father’s name. Afterwards, the family again wanted to privatize the secondary structure. Officials denied their request, arguing that the secondary structure couldn’t be declared legal since “the private property deed had been granted after May 15, 2001 and thus according to Yerevan building codes weren’t subject to legalization.” “But they had issued us a property deed as far back as 1998. The 2005 deed was granted on the basis of the ’98 document. It was The BCIPI that forced us to obtain a new deed in ’05. Now they tell us that you didn’t privatize the property before 20001,” explains Nuneh Hambardzumyan. The family’s attorney, Edgar Badeyan told “Hetq” that the municipality’s explanations were baseless since the Abrahamyan’s received their property deed back in 1998. “It’s not in the municipality’s interest that the deed was issues in 1998 and that a new one was issued in 2005 based on the old one. This means that the family had documents on the house right up till 2001,” Badeyan noted. Attorney Badeyan stated that they had petitioned the Administrative Court, demanding that the secondary structure of around 60 square meters be privatized in the family’s name. Mr. Badeyan states that, “According to Article  2 of the RoA Law “Regarding the Status of Personal Residential Houses Without Proper Documentation”, the 60 s.m. structure must be privatized since parcels of land up till 300 square meters demarcated as state property and/or residential houses built on these parcels and/or auxiliary structures with residential significance, including those on parcels regarded as public domain, are considered the private property of that physical person to whose property is attached the parcel being utilized. If the Abrahamyan’s had possession in 1998, their right of private possession of the secondary structure adjacent to their property must be granted by the enforcement of this law.” The case is now being processed at the Administrative Court, but the trial date hasn’t been announced yet. “I have motioned for an injunction so that the municipality or the CES will not be able to take any action against the property. We are now waiting to see what the court decides regarding the motion,” says Mr. Badeyan. The family residing at Buzand Street #83 is ready to forfeit their house but only when it receives comparable compensation.

Buzand Resident – “Beglaryan will make super-profits at our expense”

“Hayk Beglaryan wants to erect a high-rise on this land. He will receive super profits at the expense of our house. So, let him do what’s right and fair. Let him give us an apartment,” says Nuneh Hambardzumyan. “We are giving him a prime plot in downtown Yerevan, regardless of the poor condition that it’s in. This is our only home. In return, he should present us with an apartment.” We weren’t able to get in touch with Hayk Beglaryan. The “Flash” company, owned by his father, didn’t want to give us his telephone number. They gave us some other numbers instead. We called and finally got in touch with a man called Hayk who said he was the legal representative of Hayk Beglaryan. “You can direct all questions regarding Buzand #83 to the BCIPI. They’ll answer all your inquiries. Hayk Beglaryan is waiting for the property to be handed over to him. BCIPI is taking care of the rest,” replied the other man called Hayk. When we asked the representative what Beglaryan was planning to build on the site, he replied that no final decision had yet been made. We received the following statement from the Yerevan Municipality’s Department of Public Affairs – Since the property has yet to be fully transferred and purchased by the builder, construction documents (plans, permits) cannot be drawn up. We can thus state that it’s impossible to predict what will be built on the site. However, we can assume that since the site is centrally located on a prime strip of Yerevan real estate, it will most likely resemble the others already built; multi-functional residential and commercial space. In the written response we received from the Yerevan Municipality, Hayk Beglaryan won the rights to 2,484 square meters of land on Buzand Street as a result of a May 19, 2005 auction. “After the RoA Law “Regarding the Seizure of Land Due to Public Domain” was adopted, it became necessary to adopt a new government decision. According to Government Decision N108 of January 24, 2007, Hayk Beglaryan, as a person who in the past had carried out construction projects, was recognized as the obtainer of the site to continue and finalize the construction project,” according to the municipality’s written reply.

MP Alaverdyan – “Public Domain” as a cover for business interests

In the end, it turns out that the site was sold to an individual without clarifying what would be built. And all this was done due to so-called “exceptional public interest”. Former RoA Human Rights Ombudsman, Heritage Party MP Larisa Alaverdyan, told “Hetq” that personal interests are disguised under the cover of “public interests”. MP Alaverdyan argued, “The law stipulates that they must consult with the site residents regarding what will be built there and at least reach a common consensus if not total agreement. What’s at issue here is that the personal property of many is being granted to another person who is richer.” The former Human Rights Ombudsman recollects that international experts had difficulty understanding how the RoA government could treat its citizens in so callous a manner. “The government has failed to restore the rights of citizens it has trampled upon in the past and continues to do so today at the same rate,” stated MP Alaverdyan.

Is civil servant Beglaryan flouting the law on commercial ventures?

Hayk Beglaryan is a civil servant; he’s employed as a specialist with the RoA Control Chamber’s 8th Bureau. According to Article 24 of the RoA Law “Regarding Civil Servants”, he is thus prohibited from personally engaging in business ownership. We should also note that the Control Chamber’s Bureau #8, where Hayk Beglaryan is employed, monitors the activities of the Regulatory Department of State Property attached to the RoA government, the committee of the State Cadastre, the Central Election Commission and the    State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition.