YEREVAN. – Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) former Chairman and MP Gagik Tsarukyan will not be stricken of his parliamentary mandate.

National Assembly (NA) President Galust Sahakyan told reporters Thursday that they had received additional explanations days ago from Tsarukyan, and with respect to his numerous absences from the NA sessions.

Sahakyan stressed that Tsarukyan’s said absences were considered excusable, and therefore he had stopped the respective inquiry.

As reported earlier, speaking at the February 12 meeting of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Board, President Serzh Sargsyan, who is also chairman of the RPA Board, had stated that then-PAP Chairman, MP and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan had become a vice for the country as a political player. He also relieved the PAP leader from his status as a National Security Council member, and promised that a process will begin in connection with Tsarukyan’s frequent absence from the parliament sessions.

Subsequently, Galust Sahakyan commissioned an inquiry into the MPs’ absences from the NA sessions.

Sometime thereafter, however, Gagik Tsarukyan announced that he is quitting the PAP and active politics.