OMM Newsroom
The leader of Armenia’s main opposition party, Samvel Karapetyan, has been jailed for one month over embezzlement and money-laundering allegations involving Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), a company at the center of a dispute with the government, AnewZ reports.
Yerevan’s Anti-Corruption Court issued the ruling on Thursday, November 5. Karapetyan had been detained by the country’s National Security Service the previous day.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said that searches were conducted simultaneously at 65 locations on Wednesday as part of the investigation, and 36 people were detained.
The locations searched included the home of Narek Karapetyan, who leads the parliamentary faction of the Strong Armenia party. Narek Karapetyan is Samvel Karapetyan’s nephew. Vardan Makaryan, a member of ENA’s board, was also detained.
Investigators accuse Karapetyan of leading a criminal group involving senior ENA executives. The group allegedly used their positions to embezzle more than $180 million and then laundered the money through shell entities.
Karapetyan’s previous arrest and the dispute over ENA
The Russian-Armenian billionaire was first arrested in June 2025 on charges of money laundering and publicly calling for the government to be overthrown by force. He was later released to house arrest.
Karapetyan acquired ENA in 2015, before Nikol Pashinyan became prime minister. The Armenian government took control of the company’s management in 2025, one month after Karapetyan’s arrest, and nationalized it in October 2026.
Pashinyan said the government plans to hand ENA’s management to an international company but does not intend to privatize it.
