His brother, Avetik Kerobian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that law enforcement officials also conducted a search of the former minister’s home in Yerevan.
Avetik Kerobian said the investigation that prompted the home search was unrelated to his brother’s tenure as minister from 2020 to 2024.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee later issued a statement saying that Kerobian’s arrest was connected to a criminal case stemming from a large-scale investigation. According to the committee, the investigation revealed a criminal organization that carried out corruption-related activities between 2008 and 2014.
It said that the investigation specifically found that the owner of a wine and brandy factory, identified as H. M., along with a former Cadaster official and several company owners, including G. A., illegally transferred dozens of hectares of municipal land in Yerevan to associates using fraudulent documents. The group then mortgaged the properties through linked companies, obtaining loans exceeding $10 million, and used falsified ownership certificates to launder the money. Investigators say all participants were aware the land had been obtained illegally and acted according to instructions from the organization’s leaders to achieve their criminal objectives.
More than a dozen searches were conducted at the residences of individuals linked to the alleged criminal group, yielding evidence relevant to the investigation, the committee said. It added that 12 people have been charged, seven of whom have been arrested, including Kerobian.
Investigators said Kerobian faces charges of participating in a criminal organization and large-scale money laundering. From 2008 to 2014, Kerobian led a company that owned the largest supermarket chain in Armenia at the time.
Kerobian’s lawyer Tigran Yegorian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the former minister denies the charges brought against him.
Kerobian is also implicated in a separate case related to his ministerial role. The former minister is a key suspect in a case involving a major software company, Synergy, and is accused of abusing his official position. Investigators say that Kerobian and other ministry officials rigged a tender in 2023 to grant a $1 million procurement contract to Synergy “at any cost.”
The former minister, who denies the charges, was briefly detained in February 2024 as part of the investigation before being placed under house arrest. He was released from house arrest four months later after the term of the measure expired. Kerebian remains a defendant in the case, which is now under court review.