Friday, January 24, 2020
Investigator Denies ‘Political Persecution’ Of Sarkisian
January 24, 2020
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Artashes Mailian, a senior official from the Special Investigatory
Service, speaks to RFE/RL's Armenian service.
A senior law-enforcement official dismissed on Friday defense lawyers’ claims
that corruption charges leveled against former President Serzh Sarkisian are
politically motivated.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) indicted Sarkisian in early December. It
said that he “organized the embezzlement by a group of officials” of 489 million
drams (just over $1 million) in government funds allocated in 2013 for the
provision of subsidized diesel fuel to farmers.
The SIS claimed that Sarkisian interfered in a government tender for the fuel
supplier to ensure that it is won by a company belonging to his longtime friend,
businessman Barsegh Beglarian, rather than another fuel importer that offered a
lower price. It also charged Barseghian and three former government officials
during the investigation completed two weeks ago. All five suspects deny the
accusations.
In a statement released earlier this week, Sarkisian’s lawyers insisted that the
accusations are baseless and are part of his “political persecution” by the
current Armenian authorities.
Artashes Mayilian, a senior SIS official who led the probe, dismissed those
claims as a mere defense tactic. “I have still not heard … any clarifications as
to what exactly makes the case political,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Mayilian also disputed the lawyers’ assertion that Sarkisian enjoys
constitutional immunity from prosecution. “As it stands, the former president of
Armenia does not have the right to immunity in connection with that particular
deed,” he said.
The high-profile case is reportedly based on former Agriculture Minister Sergo
Karapetian’s incriminating testimony against the ex-president. Karapetian and
his former deputy Samvel Galstian are among the five suspects in the case.
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has also condemned the charges as
politically motivated. It says that the ex-president is prosecuted in
retaliation for his public criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018, accused Pashinian’s government of
jeopardizing democracy and stifling dissent in a November speech at a congress
of the European People’s Party held in Croatia. He had kept a low profile since
resigning in April 2018 amid Pashinian-led mass protests against his continued
rule.
Pashinian has repeatedly implicated Sarkisian, his family and political
entourage in corruption both before and after coming to power in the “Velvet
Revolution.”
Armenian Constitutional Court Head’s Home Searched
January 24, 2020
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian talks to reporters
outside his home searched by law-enforcement officers, Yerevan, January 24, 2020.
Investigators searched the Yerevan apartment of Hrayr Tovmasian, the chairman of
Armenia’s Constitutional Court, on Friday one month after indicting him on
charges which he rejects as politically motivated.
They did not confiscate any documents kept there, according to Tovmasian and his
lawyers.
Tovmasian was charged with two counts of abuse of power. Prosecutor-General
Artur Davtian said late last month that he unlawfully privatized an office in
Yerevan and forced state notaries to rent other premises “de facto” belonging to
him when he served as Armenia’s justice minister from 2010-2014.
Tovmasian strongly denies the accusations, saying that they are part of the
Armenian government’s intensifying efforts to force him to resign.
The chief justice claimed that officers of the Special Investigative Service
(SIS) raided his home for the same reason. “The current authorities are seeking
to quickly get rid of me as chairman of the Constitutional Court, and that is
being done in a very crude and open manner,” he told journalists after the
search.
Tovmasian stressed that he has no intention to step down and remains undaunted
by the possibility of his arrest. “It’s my cross which I have to bear,” he said.
His lawyers claimed, meanwhile, that the search was conducted illegally because
the SIS investigators failed to give their client a copy of the search warrant
issued by a Yerevan court. The SIS was quick to deny that.
The law-enforcement agency has brought the same charges against Norayr Panosian,
a former Justice Ministry official related to Tovmasian. He too denies them.
Panosian was arrested in late September. Armenia’s Court of Appeals freed him in
early November, questioning the credibility of the charges. The SIS altered them
before arresting Panosian again on January 9.
The Armenian government and investigators maintain that there are no political
motives behind the high-profile case.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian implicitly demanded in August the resignation of
Tovmasian and other Constitutional Court judges who were installed before he
came to power in the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” He accused them of maintaining
links with Armenia’s former leadership and impeding reforms which he says are
aimed at creating a “truly independent judiciary.”
Pashinian’s critics say that he is on the contrary seeking to gain control over
all Armenian courts.
Tovmasian was indicted on December 27 one day after President Armen Sarkissian
signed into law a controversial government bill giving seven of the nine
Constitutional Court judgesfinancial incentives to resign before the end of
their mandate. None of those judges has accepted the proposed early retirement
so far.
Opposition Leader Slams Government For Blocking Corruption Probe
January 24, 2020
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia -- Bright Armenia Party leaders Edmon Marukian (R) and Mane Tandilian at
a joint news conference in Yerevan, March 27, 2019.
Opposition leader Edmon Marukian on Friday continued to condemn the Armenian
authorities for blocking a parliamentary into Yerevan’s municipal administration
and said they will pay dearly for their stance.
“The key thing is that for the first time after the [2018] revolution they took
such a high-level step back from democracy,” Marukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service. “They will not get away with this step. I promise you that the
authorities will regret it.”
Marukian’s Bright Armenia Party (LHK) demanded such an inquiry last month after
a member of the Yerevan city council affiliated with it, Davit Khazhakian,
exposed expensive donations made to the municipality.
Khazhakian claimed that private firms donated dozens of garbage collection
trucks and other equipment in return for construction permits issued by Yerevan
Mayor Hayk Marutian. Marutian, who is allied to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian,
strongly denied such a quid pro quo.
The LHK collected in December a sufficient number of signatures in the Armenian
parliament for the creation of an ad hoc commission tasked with investigating
“corruption risks” in the mayor’s office. The parliament’s pro-government
majority refused to give the green light for the commission’s activities on
Wednesday, however, sparking a bitter war of words between senior lawmakers
representing the LHK and Pashinian’s My Step bloc.
My Step parliamentarians said that Armenian law does not allow the National
Assembly to interfere in the work of local government bodies. They said such a
commission can only be set up by the city council. Pashinian personally endorsed
this position.
Marukian again dismissed the official rationale for not investigating the
municipality, saying that the authorities simply “decided to save their
teammate” from an embarrassing corruption scandal.
“These people are increasingly losing their heads,” charged the leader one of
the two opposition groups represented in the current parliament. “They are
blindly going forward, thinking that the people’s trust is unlimited and
perpetual and that they can do anything they want.”
Marukian also complained that Pashinian’s political team has failed to
reciprocate what he described as the LHK’s goodwill towards it. He said his
party has turned blind eye to many of the current government’s failings for fear
of a potential “counterrevolution” in Armenia. From now on it will be far more
outspoken in challenging government policies, added the LHK leader.
Armenian Bank Issues $300 Million Eurobond
January 24, 2020
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Ardshinbank's chief financial officer, Davit Sargsian, speaks to
RFE/RL, January 24, 2020.
One of Armenia’s largest commercial banks has issued a $300 million Eurobond to
foreign investors at a yield of 6.5 percent, citing “positive” economic trends
in the country.
Ardshinbank announced the sale of the 5-year dollar-denominated bonds on its
website on Thursday. It is largest ever foreign borrowing operation carried out
by an Armenian bank.
Ardshinbank’s chief financial officer, Davit Sargsian, said on Friday that the
bank launched the bond issue after holding a series of meetings with Western
investors in New York, London, Zurich and Munich last year.
Sargsian said that robust economic growth in Armenia was a key factor behind
Ardshinbank’s deicision to attract the relatively low-interest funds from
abroad. “Expectations among our bank’s analysts and foreign analysts are
positive for 2020 as well,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Sargsian also linked the deal to Armenia’s third $500 million Eurobond issue
announced by the government in September.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hailed Arshinbank’s “unprecedented” deal late on
Thursday. “This is a foreign direct investment in our economy,” he wrote on
Facebook. “This is a vivid reflection of our economic revolution.”
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian said, for is part, that Ardshinbank’s
external borrowing indicates foreign investors’ growing interest in the Armenian
economy.
“This is also a very positive signal in terms of the development of the capital
market,” Avinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
As of late December, Ardshinbank held 678.6 billion drams ($1.4 billion) in
combined assets.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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