Opposition MP questions Narek Babayan's rise after appointment to ZCMC board

Armenian opposition lawmaker Anna Grigoryan on Thursday accused the government of widespread corruption, patronage and wasteful spending, saying officials who came to power in 2018 “on an anti-corruption message” are now presiding over the very practices they once denounced.

Speaking at a parliament session, the Hayastan bloc MP presented several examples she said illustrate mismanagement and misuse of public funds.

Grigoryan criticized plans to establish a new Yerevan Traffic Management Center, which she said will receive about 500 million drams annually. She argued that existing municipal and Interior Ministry units already perform similar functions, such as traffic flow analysis and infrastructure planning. According to her, salaries at the new center will reach 1.7 to 1.8 million drams per month.

Invoking the case of the now-defunct Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF), Grigoryan said officials there received “tens of thousands of dollars” in salaries, bonuses and operational allowances before its work ultimately “failed”, a comparison she suggested may apply to the new center.

The MP also criticized a recent gathering at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed thousands of public sector employees about the need for constitutional changes. Grigoryan said the event cost taxpayers 42 million drams.

Grigoryan further alleged that questions are being raised in Syunik Province regarding the career trajectory of Narek Babayan, appointed as a board member of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). She claimed residents describe a dramatic rise in Babayan’s fortunes since 2018.

“Go to Syunik and ask who Narek Babayan was before 2018 and what successes he has achieved since,” Grigoryan said, asserting that locals in Kapan and Kajaran “will tell the full story”.