Armenia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs police today arrested Alik Aleksanyan, a senior member of Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia Party, on suspicion of money laundering and paying citizens to attend the businessman’s election rallies.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee (IC) reports that a motion will be filed in court to remand him in custody during the investigation.

In a press release, the IC said a joint investigation with police found that Aleksanyan—who led the Mer Dzevov (Our Way) NGO, a forerunner of the Strong Armenia Party—allegedly misrepresented his intentions and formally hired about 1,400 people under civil and service contracts at the movement’s offices across Armenia. More than 400 of them were also employed by other companies at the same time.

Investigators said that between October 8, 2025, and March 31, 2026, about 1.6 billion drams, €230,000, and $75,000 were transferred to the Mer Dzevov NGO’s bank accounts from the Tashir Charitable Foundation and affiliated companies, Inteko Energo and Tashir Capital, all linked to Samvel Karapetyan. The transfers were labeled as donations and loans and are alleged to be proceeds of crime.

Investigators also allege that during the same period, Aleksanyan laundered large sums of illicit money by presenting it as legitimate activity. According to the IC, he used the funds to pay salaries and service fees and to encourage people to attend rallies and gatherings organized by Karapetyan’s supporters, the Mer Dzevov NGO, and the Strong Armenia Party between September 2025 and May 2026.

The IC said most of those hired either did not report to work or came to the NGO’s offices only once or a few times a month, often without understanding the nature or purpose of their roles.

Aleksanyan later dismissed the employees without carrying out the NGO’s stated objectives.

According to the IC, Aleksanyan allegedly paid out 703,835,953 drams in salaries and similar payments from funds transferred to the NGO through criminal activity, plus another 59,428,521 drams under civil contracts—for a total of 763,264,474 drams.

Samvel Karapetyan is under house arrest on unrelated charges, while his nephew Narek heads the Strong Armenia alliance slate for the June 7 parliamentary election.

Photo: Alik Aleksayan’s FB page