Serzh Sargsyan, the former president of Armenia, is being prosecuted in a fresh corruption case, according to officials and his lawyer.
Sargsyan's status as an accused party in the criminal case was confirmed by Marina Ohanjanian, a spokesman for the Anti-Corruption Committee, on November 22. She didn't go into much depth.
To pursue corruption-related offences, the Anti-Corruption Committee was established earlier this year.
Sargsyan's lawyer had previously stated that his client had been called by the committee to be examined in a new criminal case on November 22.
According to lawyer Amram Makinian, the lawsuit is tied to evidence given against Sargsyan, who served as president from 2008 to 2018, by a woman only named as Silva.
Makinian was reportedly alluding to businesswoman Silva Hambardzumian, whose name has been linked to another former Armenian president, Robert Kocharyan, in a high-profile corruption case.
"The irony is that after three and a half years, they've decided that Silva would testify that she provided a bribe to Serzh Sargsyan as well," counsel added.
"Serzh Sargsyan was questioned as a witness in the same case two years ago, and no new legal circumstances have surfaced since then," he said, implying that the investigation had been started for political purposes.
Sargsyan was put on trial in Yerevan a year ago on accusations of corruption, which he dismissed as politically motivated.
The ex-president is accused of orchestrating a $1 million fraud in connection with alleged fuel misuse.
In a criminal complaint filed last month for alleged theft of public funds, Sargsyan is also accused of abuse of authority.
The case was opened after a leading Armenian investigation website, the Fact Investigation Platform, reported that during Sargsyan’s tenure as president, the presidential plane made more than a dozen flights to the German resort of Baden-Baden and was paid out of the state budget.
Sargsyan and members of his political team claims that the allegations are politically motivated.
