Court ruled on arrest of Serzh Sargsyan`s son-in-law

ArmInfo. On May 6, the court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan issued a decision to use the arrest as a measure of restraint in respect of former Ambassador of Armenia to the Vatican, Mikael Minasyan. Thus, the application of the preliminary investigation body was granted. To recall, the son-in-law of former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Mikael Minasyan, was prosecuted as a defendant in a criminal case on illicit enrichment, money laundering and the inclusion of false data in the income statement. There is no exact information regarding his current location; Minasyan himself previously via Facebook reported the initiation of more than 10 criminal cases against people related to him and his family. Last fall, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on Minasyan to return to his homeland and answer questions from the Special Investigation Service. In particular, it was about illegal, as the prime minister noted, privatization of a strategic facility in the Lori region.  According to media reports, this facility  is the Dzoraget hydroelectric power station (). In the criminal case regarding the “Dzora HPP”, the former head of the RA Ministry of Defense Seyran Ohanyan is also accused, who is suspected of embezzlement in the amount of 1,046,400,000 drams. Earlier on her Facebook page, Prime Minister’s press secretary Mane Gevorgyan stated that Minasyan had illegal shares in Spayka, Shant and Armenia TV companies, Yerevan Mall shopping center, Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Plant, and a number of other companies. According to her, a large part of his share was hastily sold after the “velvet revolution”, and, for example, the former director of the National Security Council, Arthur Vanetsyan, acquired a stake in ZCMC, with a clear abuse of power and through dummy shareholders. Gevorgyan also indicated that Vanetsyan’s father owns a company that has become a major cargo carrier of ZCMC. According to her, the Government also has information that Minasyan has a share of corruption in UCOM, and he is the de jure owner of part of the shares of the family of the former head of the SRC Gagik Khachatryan.