In 2018, when Nikol Pashinyan led street protests to topple then Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, event organizer Gevorg Aghabalyan erected a stage in Yerevan’s Republic Square that was used by Pashinyan and other opposition leaders as a rally site and as a publuic podium to make their case to citizens for regime change.

After Pashinyan and his team came to power, millions of drams were allocated from the state budget to organizations owned by Gevorg Aghabalyan and his wife to organize official events.

Aghabalyan told Hetq he never asked for compensation from the Pashinyan team.

One recent example is the Yerevan Dialogue international forum held this week in the Armenian capital.

The Armenian government signed a 52.9 million AMD ($136,000) contract with a company owned by Gevorg Aghabalyan and a 73.6 million AMD ($189,000) contract with a company owned by his wife Mariam Aghabalyan to organize the event. (Both are registered as “sole proprietorships-SP.”  

Gevorg Aghabalyan SP received state registration in 2008, and Mariam Abgaryan Hovsep SP received state registration in 2019.  

Between 2019 and 2024, Gevorg Aghabalyan SP signed ten contracts with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economy, Defense, Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the Syunik Governor's Office, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (it was a separate ministry in 2019) and the Prime Minister's Office. Three of these contracts were signed on a one-person purchase procedure, two- urgent one-person purchase.  

The contract for organizing the Yerevan Dialogue international conference was signed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a one-person procurement procedure. The invitation was sent on August 7. Only Gevorg Aghabalyan SP submitted a bid. On the same day, he was declared the winner.

Between 2021 and 2024, Mariam Abgaryan Hovsep SP signed three contracts with the Armenian Foreign Ministry and one with the Yerevan Municipality. contracts, one per year. The contracts amounted to 160.8 million drams ($414,000)

These SPs organized events not only for national government agencies. During the 2023 Yerevan Council of Elders election, they erected campaign stages for Tigran Avinyan, the ruling party Civil Contract’s candidate for mayor.  

Hetq contacted Gevorg Aghabalyan for comment. He claimed that he has no connection with the members of the Civil Contract party.

"We are the organizer of the event and at all times, we have different photos with everyone," Aghabalyan said. He denied that the above contracts were won because of his insider connections to government officials.

Aghabalyan said he’s cooperated with both the state and private sector for many years and is one of the largest in the market.

When asked why he makes bids for government contracts with two different companies, Aghabalyan told Hetq his SP deals with the technical aspects of event organizing and his wife’s SP deals with the organization side.

Top photo: Tirayr Muradyan