It took a year for the law enforcement officers to close the sand mine belonging to the wife of the ruling "Civil Agreement" faction deputy Sergey Bagratyan. Illegal sand mining"The Trace"revealed in November 2023.
As of October 25, 2024, no work was being done in the mine located in Ranchpar village of Ararat region. There were only guards in the mine area. The trucks were not there, and the sound of the engines of heavy machinery could not be heard.
On the way to the mine, we noticed the new equipment introduced for sand washing, which they had not yet used. After leaving the "Prosperous Armenia" party and becoming a member of parliament on the list of the "Civil Agreement" party, Sergey Bagratyan, a geologist by profession, tried to apply his knowledge as a geologist in the field of sand mining. His wife, Naira Hakobyan, founded "Ararak" LLC, which leased 64 hectares of land in Ranchpar village of Ararat region.
Under the pretext of establishing a garden on that plot, the tenant started earthworks. According to Sergey Bagratyan, at that time they saw that there was a layer of useless sand in the area, they tried to remove it so that they could plant trees. And that's how they started extracting sand from the plot with more than 100 trucks a day. Meanwhile, the legislation of Armenia has defined a clear procedure for using the soil.
Anyone who wants to operate a mine must first have the right to use the subsoil, and before operating a mine, they must receive a positive opinion on the impact on the environment. Sergey Bagratyan, probably knowing that the operation of the mine will be possible only years later, according to the law, chose a different path. . The LLC owned by the deputy's wife started illegal sand mining without legal documents.
The law enforcement officers did not bother him for about a year.
After the publication of "Hetk" about illegal sand extraction, the deputy's wife transferred the share to another person related to Sergey Bagratyan, Vrezh Yeghoyan. The latter is Bagratyan's business partner.
