Ruben Vardanyan’s press office responded to the investigation made on the hetq.am website yesterday. The message released by the office says:

Commenting on the publications related to Mr. Vardanyan and the activities of the “Troika Dialog” group of companies, we can say the following.

“Troika Dialog” group of companies has operated in accordance with the principles of transparency and international financial reporting standards throughout its existence. Moreover, it actively participated in the formation of the civilized financial market of Russia.

After selling “Troika Dialog” to Sberbank in 2012, Mr. Vardanyan has devoted a lot of time and money to the business. And Mr. Vardanyan’s family took on the obligation to invest most of their wealth in charity projects back in the 2000s.

More detailed comments will be given after a thorough study of the facts mentioned in the publications.

Let’s remind that according to yesterday’s publication, as a result of studying the leaked documents from the Lithuanian bank, a money laundering mechanism was revealed. Through that scheme, Russian political and criminal circles legalized their finances using forged signatures of Armenian expatriate workers and businessmen.

Together with 20 partners of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), “Hetk” investigated a network worth $8.8 billion, which operated under the control of Troika Dialogue, a private investment bank of Russian-based businessman and well-known philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan.

More than 60,000 financial documents leaked from the Lithuanian “Ūkio bankas” appeared to journalists. The investigation was named “Troika Laundromat”.