“I have a reasonable suspicion that Nikol Pashinian is the richest person in Armenia,” the top leader of the main opposition Hayastan alliance told several media outlets in an interview publicized on Monday.
Kocharian claimed that embezzlement and waste of public funds has been widespread during Pashinian’s seven-year rule. He singled out an apparently stalled criminal investigation into a government fund that was liquidated last year after failing to attract foreign investment in Armenia during four-year activities that reportedly cost taxpayers at least 10.7 billion drams ($27.3 million). That alone shows that Pashinian is an “Einstein of corruption,” charged Kocharian, who himself faced corruption allegations during and after his 1998-2008 presidency.
Parliament speaker Alen Simonian, a key Pashinian ally, portrayed those allegations as a proven fact when he hit back at the 70-year-old ex-president.
“Well, I think he should see a doctor if he's making such statements,” Simonian told reporters. “He had better say whether they brought those $200 million from Karabakh, inherited it from his grandfather or got it … from elsewhere.”
Armenian prosecutors have been trying to confiscate a long list of assets belonging to Kocharian and his extended family which they say were acquired illegally. Pro-government lawmakers pointed to these asset forfeiture proceedings, rejected by the ex-president as politically motivated, last week in response to growing opposition allegations that members of Pashinian’s political team are illegally enriching themselves, their families and cronies. Pashinian reacted furiously to the allegations earlier in May, threatening to imprison Hayastan parliamentarians.
Kocharian acknowledged that he wants to not only oust Pashinian but also take the reins of power as a result of the next general elections which he believes will likely take place as planned in June 2026. He said his past track record makes him the right person to govern the country amid unprecedented security challenges facing it.
“I am the person who can solve these issues. If you don’t want these issues to be solved then go and vote for whoever you like. If you want the issues to be solved, vote [for Kocharian,]” he said, appealing to Armenians.
Hayastan came in a distant second and won 21 percent of the vote in the last elections held in 2021.
Kocharian indicated that he is ready for post-election power-sharing deals with other major opposition groups, including the Republican Party (HHK) of Serzh Sarkisian, another former president and his erstwhile ally. Relations between Kocharian’s bloc and the HHK have been tense in recent months, with the two ex-presidents trading bitter recriminations through their aides.
In remarks that may add to those tensions, Kocharian rebuked Sarkisian for grossly underestimating popular discontent and attempting to prolong his decade-long rule in 2018 by becoming prime minister following Armenia’s transition to a parliamentary system of government. This is what triggered the mass protests that brought Pashinian to power, he said.