Gevorg Papoyan has been appointed Armenia’s new economy minister following the recent resignation of Vahan Kerobyan who, along with several ministry staffers, was embroiled in a series of abuse of power scandals.

Two days after stepping down on February 14, Kerobyan was also detained and placed under house arrest after an investigation found that he and the others disqualified a private entity from a procurement tender to guarantee that it was won by another bidder that charged a much higher sum. They ostensibly rigged the procurement to award the Armenian branch of Synergy International a $1 million contract.

Papoyan, now pursuing a PhD. in economics who teaches marketing at Yerevan’s Armenian State University of Economics, also served as parliament deputy aligned with Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step alliance.

He also directed the marketing department of the BD Group in Armenia. The company is the franchisee of several world-famous clothing brands.

BD is also the Armenian franchisee of the France-based 5àsec dry cleaning and laundry service that now operates in thirty-one countries.