News - Why is Konjoryan making noise?

We cannot say how MP Hayk Konjoryan acquired a house that is sold for 420 thousand drams per square meter at a simple calculation of 300 thousand drams per square meter. How did Konjoryan manage such a deal and “save” 21 million drams? This could be clarified by the Anti-Corruption Commission or the law enforcement system. Yesterday, on December 9, Hetq published an article with the headline: “Hayk Konjoryan bought a townhouse at a price significantly below market value.” Konjoryan responded to this publication. He wrote on his Facebook page that the article is false and that the presented facts do not correspond to reality. “The charm and misery of Armenian journalism — demonstrated by one article. The investigative media called Hetq has produced a completely false article, claiming that I bought a townhouse well below market price in the Kotayk region’s Arinj village. They called a construction company, inquired about the current market price of the house, then published that price as if it referred to a house I bought more than a year and a half ago and obtained an astronomical figure. They deliberately concealed the significantly lower market-value figures published on the construction company’s Facebook page, which were offered to all buyers. Everyone knows that during construction the value of real estate is far lower than after completion. I bought the property at market value with a mortgage loan for 20 years, in Arinj village. Once again I have been convinced that part of Armenian journalism has long since died; it’s just that they are not told not to let the mood dip. P.S. By the way, it’s not a standalone house but a townhouse. They wrote “house” to make it sound more dramatic :),” wrote Konjoryan. However, the Milon Mining LLC Facebook page’s postings indicate otherwise. Specifically, in January, July, and October 2024, posts state that the value of residential houses starts at 410,000 drams per square meter. In other words, 410,000 drams is the minimum price. Konjoryan acquired the townhouse on July 26, 2024. On the company’s Facebook page in a post dated July 19, the value of 410,000 drams is also cited. It follows that Konjoryan bought per square meter at 300,000 drams, which is significantly lower than the price announced by the company. Hayk Konjoryan bought the townhouse in the final stage of construction. The company’s January 2024 post said that some townhouses would be ready in a month. And in October, three months after Konjoryan’s purchase of the townhouse, a post already presented completed townhouses. Before publishing the article, we sent a query to Hayk Konjoryan, detailing the information we had and requesting comments on it. Specifically, the questionnaire stated: “On July 26, 2024, you and your wife, Shushan Alexanyan, acquired a residential house at 7/19, Block B, Arinj settlement, Abovyan community, Kotayk region. On May 29, 2025, in the 2024 Property, Income and Expense Declarations submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission, you stated that you bought the house for 54 million drams. The Milon Mining LLC Facebook page states that 1 sq m of residential houses is sold starting from 420 thousand drams. The internal area of your purchased residential house, according to data from the Cadastre Committee, is 246 sq m, and the living area is about 180 sq m. It follows that your residential house’s value would be 75,600,000 drams (180 × 420,000), i.e., 21,600,000 drams more than what is stated in your declaration. Please provide information on the following: How did it happen that you purchased a residential house at a price significantly below what the company announced?” Konjoryan did not deny or explain our presented information in any way. This has led us to a reasonable belief that the presented facts are correct. The deputy, in his public post, stated that the article is “totally false from top to bottom.” This is while, for the deputy, even before the article’s publication, the topic and facts of the material had been disclosed, but he chose not to respond, with the aim of publicly accusing the media later. In recent months, those in public office, when confronted with revealing journalistic articles, have targeted the media and journalists. They instrumentalize the media’s integrity to show that clearly false information is being spread, and so on. But they forget that they, too, must be fair and accountable, and must clarify matters of public interest. The public importance of the article about Hayk Konjoryan is that the deputy, by buying real estate cheaper than market value, has the right to reclaim income tax from the state budget. In this context, does Konjoryan’s conduct align with the principles of serving the public, remaining faithful to the public interest, being objective and conscientious, when he does not provide clarifications? Why do officials think they can lecture on behavior while not being held to account or operating transparently? These questions might become a subject of discussion in the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly, if, of course, Hayk Konjoryan and his colleagues were to create a temporary committee with MPs to discuss such and other cases.