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The Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office has filed criminal charges against lawmaker Aram Harutyunyan, recommending he be put on trial for bribery and money laundering.

In a statement released on Monday, the office says that Harutyunyan, who served as Armenia’s nature protection minister and chairman of a commission granting mining permits back in 2008, allegedly received $14 million in bribes from a person in exchange for issuing a special license for study and exploitation of 10 non-ferrous metal ore mines in Syunik, Gegharkunik, Lori, and Kotayk regions.

$6 million of the sum were given to the MP in cash through a mediator from January to November 2008, while the remaining $8 million were transmitted via bank transfer.

The statement says that then the lawmaker laundered the money by transferring it to the bank accounts opened in the names of other persons abroad, committing grave crimes under Armenia’s Criminal Code.

Two other individuals have also been charged as part of the criminal probe for assisting bribery. An arrest warrant has been issued against two others for the same charges.

Meantime, it has been revealed that Harutyunyan now owns several mansions, apartments, a 7-storey building near the Republic Square, a restaurant, a public building worth 427 million drams in Yerevan, as well as a dozen agricultural land plots in Kotayk region.

He has declared over $1.5 million.

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan has filed a petition to the National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan to strip MP Aram Harutyunyan of his immunity and allow the office to launch criminal proceedings against the lawmaker and to arrest him.