Former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has been charged with taking a bribe from a businesswoman years earlier, officials and his lawyer Amram Makinyan said on Monday, November 22.

Marina Ohanjanyan, a spokesperson for the Anti-Corruption Committee, confirmed Sargsyan’s status as a defendant but failed to provide more details.

Earlier on Monday, Makinyan announced that Sargsyan had been summoned by the committee for questioning. He said the case is linked to testimony made against Sargsyan, who was president between 2008 and 2018, by businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan.

Hambardzumyan's name has been associated with a high-profile corruption case against another former Armenian president, Robert Kocharyan.