YEREVAN — A court has granted a motion to detain Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan for two months. His lawyers insist that the charges are baseless.

“There is nothing left of the accusation. It is difficult to imagine such an empty charge in a case like this. Even if they wanted to organize this prosecution, they should have come up with something more serious, because I believe there is no criminal act here at all. Moreover, this is not even a commercial dispute being turned into a criminal case. I believe there is no commercial dispute here either. Mr. Tsarukyan should have been recognized as the victim,” said attorney Emin Khachatryan.

Gagik Tsarukyan was arrested after a search lasting about 12 hours at his private residence. Masked officers of the National Security Service first took him to the Investigative Committee, where he was charged with fraud and money laundering. He was then taken to court in handcuffs.

According to the Investigative Committee, Tsarukyan organized and led a criminal group that, under the pretext of creating logistics links between Iran and Armenia, allegedly used deception and falsified documents to seize 52 vehicles, pieces of equipment and goods from Iranian companies, causing approximately $22 million in damage.

The investigative body further claims that Tsarukyan organized the laundering of property and funds obtained through criminal means by mixing them into the legal circulation of his own companies.

The businessman denies the charges, calling them fabricated.