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    Emil Lazarian
  • 8 years ago
    • Categories: 2018

National Security Service detains director of Hayastan all-Armenian fund

ARKA, Armenia
July 4 2018

YEREVAN, July 3. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) detained July 2 the executive director of “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund on suspicion of embezzlement and misuse of funds. According to an NSS statement, under the pressure of facts, Vardanyan has confessed to misappropriating the charity’s funds, including using Armenia Fund money for online gambling.

According to the statement, Vardanyan used a Hayastan Fund credit card with a limit of 25 million drams (approximately $5,500) for online gambling. He then used donated funds to replenish the credit card account. According to his own testimony, Vardanyan then placed his own money into the charity’s accounts to compensate for the wasted money.

NSS said during the last week alone, Vardanyan used nearly 14 million drams ($29,000) from the Hayastan Fund credit card for online gambling. From 2016 to 2018 Vardanyan reportedly misappropriated approximately 130 million drams (around $270,000) for personal use.

The Hayastan pan-Armenian Fund is a tax-exempt, non-governmental, non-political corporation, established in 1994 in Los Angeles, California to carry out national projects in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. -0-

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS