The Civil Contract Government’s “In-Laws, Acquaintances and Relatives” Network: Officials’ Relatives in State-Owned Companies, Millions in Salaries at the Expense of the State System
Under the rule of the Civil Contract government, the distribution of positions in state-owned and state-participated companies increasingly resembles a closed system of party connections and family acquaintances. The names of governors, ministers, MPs, and people close to the Prime Minister regularly appear on the lists of employees and executives of state institutions, foundations, and major companies. And when the media tries to find out through which competition, according to what criteria, and thanks to what professional advantages these people obtained their positions, the government often settles for general assurances.
The latest example is connected to the family of Kotayk Governor Lilit Stepanyan. On October 22, Oragir.am wrote that the governor’s husband also works at the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) and receives millions of drams in income from there. The publication also draws attention to a noteworthy circumstance: the governor’s permanent place of residence is Hrazdan, while her husband’s stated workplace is Kajaran. Does the latter actually commute to work, and how are work and family life organised under such circumstances, given the distance? This requires separate clarification.
Civil Contract came to power with promises to fight privileges, the vices of the old system, and “looting.” Years later, instead of those promises, we see a government whose representatives’ family members’ employment, income, and positions within the state system are regularly the subject of new publications. Loud declarations about fighting old practices do not eliminate the simple obligation to explain why people closely connected to government circles so frequently find themselves in influential positions and major organisations.
One of the most high-profile examples is Haypost. Shushan Aleksanyan, the wife of Civil Contract parliamentary faction leader Hayk Konjoryan, was appointed the company’s executive director in November 2024. According to a publication by Azatutyun dated July 31, 2026, her annual remuneration exceeded 118 thousand dollars, amounting to more than 3.6 million drams per month.
This concerns the salary of the head of a state-owned company. Therefore, public scrutiny here is not only natural but also mandatory. However, in response to Azatutyun’s inquiries, neither Haypost nor the ministry provided the complete competition documents, information about the candidates, or a clear justification for how the salary amount was determined. The ministry stated that there is no separate formula or set of criteria for calculating the salary.
Konjoryan stated that his wife had worked at Haypost for five years, had participated in the competition, and that he had not interfered in any way. However, this clarification does not replace the documents. The criteria for selecting the head of a state-owned company must be visible, especially when the selected candidate is the wife of the ruling faction’s leader. The government cannot demand trust while simultaneously refusing to provide the kind of information whose publication would dispel suspicions.
The business activities of members of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s family have also become the subject of a separate investigation. In June 2022, FIP.am published that Pashinyan’s brother, Armen Pashinyan, had become the director of four companies within one year. These were Go Trade, Mina-Maya, Argishti-2, and Meat Agro. Their fields of activity varied, from agricultural machinery rental to electricity production and meat trading.
Pashinyan had claimed that his brother had effectively managed a group of companies. According to FIP.am’s fact-checking, this claim was manipulative, since only two of the companies were connected through their fields of activity. This story once again demonstrated how important it is to compare official explanations with state registry data and the actual activities of companies.
In 2025, the wife of Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Gohar Abajyan, also came under the spotlight after being appointed director of the Enterprise Armenia Foundation. The foundation is engaged in attracting investments and supporting investment programmes. At the same time, Mirzoyan is a member of the foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Arayik Harutyunyan, Chief of Staff of the Government, had stated that there had been numerous candidates, that competitions and interviews had been conducted, and that the selection had been made according to objective criteria. But such statements still do not reveal the substance of the competition. Who were the other candidates? What professional advantages did the selected individual have? How was her work experience evaluated? The family connection between the minister and a member of the foundation’s governing body makes the need for scrutiny of the appointment even greater.
The same picture can be observed in the cultural sector. In July 2024, Davit Banuchyan, the husband of Civil Contract MP Sona Ghazaryan, was appointed acting director of the Armenia National Film Foundation. The appointment was confirmed in an official announcement by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. Subsequently, the media also addressed grants provided to Banuchyan by the foundation.
Here, it is necessary to examine not only the grounds for the appointment but also the procedure for awarding grants, the composition of the committees, the justifications for decisions, and the criteria for selecting beneficiaries. A state foundation cannot operate as a closed club, where suspicions surrounding its decisions are answered only with official announcements.
Appointments of family members of Civil Contract MPs are not limited to executive positions. According to a publication by the Zhoghovurd daily, MP Hripsime Grigoryan’s husband, Davit Karapetyan, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2021 as an adviser to the minister. According to declaration data published later, his annual salary received from the MFA amounted to approximately 7.643 million drams.
According to another publication, Albert Martirosyan, the husband of Civil Contract MP Emma Palyan, worked as her assistant, while her brother, Hayk Palyan, was an assistant to QP MP Karen Sarukhanian. These reports also concern cases of employment within the state system for which the government is obliged to present the professional selection criteria.
Meanwhile, cases where public procurement intersects with the business interests of government officials’ families require more serious investigation.
Regarding Modul LLC, which belongs to the wife of Urban Development Committee Chairman Yeghiazar Vardanyan, Yerkir.am wrote in March 2026 that the company had signed 51 state contracts between 2020 and 2024, with a total value of approximately 2.5 billion drams. According to the same publication, Vardanyan’s wife, Narine Hakobyan, had previously been the company’s owner and director, while another person was appointed director in July 2024.
These data provide sufficient grounds to examine the tendering process for the contracts, the contracting authorities, the conditions of the tenders won by the company, and the relevant time period.
A public office is not a means of ensuring family prosperity, and a state-owned company is not a reserve of jobs for those in government circles. Civil Contract can continue presenting itself as the opponent of the old system, but that slogan is worth nothing when public scrutiny of appointments within its own circle is replaced by self-justifications. The government must make public the competition documents, candidate evaluation criteria, salary justifications, and complete data on state contracts. Otherwise, its promises of “transparency” will remain yet another set of Pashinyan-style lies, behind which the same privileged system continues to operate.