Hetq: The 300,000-Dram “Opel” Leased for 1.99 Million Drams a Year: An Intriguing State Procurement Story Involving the Brother of Civil Contract MP Karen Hambardzumyan
In the picture on the left is Karen Hambardzumyan, a former Prosperous Armenia Party member, now a Civil Contract member, formerly Governor of Syunik Province and currently a Civil Contract MP.
In the picture on the right is his brother, Tigran Hambardzumyan.
In 2025, the latter purchased a 1998 Opel vehicle for 300,000 drams and leased it to the “Sisian Territorial Pedagogical-Psychological Support Center” SNCO for 1,990,000 drams per year.
Naturally, only Tigran participated in the tender and won, since the technical specifications of the required vehicle listed precisely the technical characteristics of his own car.
In fact, the state pays 2 million drams a year in rent for something whose market sale value is 6.6 times lower.
One More Noteworthy Fact
The same vehicle has been leased by the same SNCO from other owners since 2022, initially for 695,000 drams, and then at increasingly higher prices. As of now, the lease of the 300,000-dram Opel has cost the state approximately 6 million drams. Over the next five years, its cost to the state will probably exceed 15 million drams.
There has probably never been an Opel like this in the history of automobile manufacturing. Once it has fulfilled its mission, it could be sent to Germany as a museum exhibit, or placed in Victory Park as a symbol of the victory of corruption.