Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has asked the courts to confiscate millions in assets belonging to Gagik Tsarukyan, one of Armenia’s richest men.

The assets include seventy-nine real estate holdings, forty-two vehicles, 86 billion drams (US$213 million), and shares in thirty-nine legal entities.

The PGO, in a November 23 statement, announced that it launched an investigation of Tsarukyan’s assets in October 2020 based on a law that allows the authorities to confiscate assets deemed to have been acquired illegally. It said the court has already agreed to freeze them pending a verdict in the case.

The PGO hasn’t published any evidence to support its claim that Tsarukyan and his family have amassed their wealth illegally. Tsarukyan’s lawyers have rejected the claim, insisting that Tsarukyan’s assets were legally acquired.

“There is substantial evidence of that, which will be presented to the court and the Office of the Prosecutor-General as soon as possible,” they said in a statement.

Tsarukyan is the founder and leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party. His Multi Group Concern holding company owns more than forty large and small businesses including the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory, Ararat Cement CJSC, Kotayk Brewery, Multi Grand Hotel, and the Shangri La casino.