Criminal case regarding “Civilitas” Foundation hits Armenia’s image
ARMINFO
Friday, June 15, 16:00
The criminal case regarding “Civilitas” Foundation hits the image of
Armenia and its law-enforcement agencies, director of the foundation,
Salbi Kazaryan, told journalists today.
To note, today she was called to the National Security Service to be
questioned like a witness on a lawsuit filed against the foundation by
the third point of the 19Ã?Â?th clause of the Criminal Code of Armenia
(money laundering).
Kazaryan said that just the same way as the founder of the foundation,
ex-foreign minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, she also refused to
give evidence, as the statement of the National Security Service was
formed in such an absurd way, that it is simply senseless to discuss
it. She stood in the NSC for an hour, during which some documents
connected with activity of the foundation were checked, she said and
added that it is clear that this checking process which is absolutely
senseless hinders natural work of the foundation.
To recall, yesterday ambassadors of several countries to Armenia
visited the foundation and were presented the details of the process
around it, as well the financial sources and expenses of the
foundation as well as its main directions.
Kazaryan told journalists that she hopes that the visit of the
ambassadors will positively affect the course of the case. “The
authorities as well as the law-enforcement agencies should understand
that such a wrong approach and such an absurd blaming of the
foundation hits the image of the country. The “Civilitas” has been
functioning rather transparently and had no violations. Any accusation
and suspicion is groundless. We are confident that finally this case
will find its fair settlement, as the foundation has been working as
transparent as possible”, – director of the foundation said.
The criminal case against the Civilitas Foundation concerns the $2mln
transaction for the sale of Huntsman Building Products, an
Armenia-based company owned by US-based Polymer Materials and Huntsman
International, says the National Security Service of Armenia.
“As a result of some inaccuracies in the contract, the transaction was
not submitted to the tax authorities and therefore left untaxed. Of
the charity funds left in Armenia according to the wish of the
American side, as much as $1,135,000 was not spent for charity but was
transferred to accounts opened by the founder and president of the
Civilitas Foundation Vartan Oskanian and the Foundation’s trustee
Tigran Karapetyan, with part of the money used for personal needs. In
its turn, contrary to its own charter, the Civilitas Foundation failed
to report on the taxation of the $2mln provided to Polymer Materials
and Huntsman International for charity,” says the NSS, adding that the
case stipulates tax inspections, trade analyses, interrogations.
In response to the NSS’s report, Vartan Oskanian has repeated that the
case is clearly politically motivated. “I want to say the following:
money laundering, Oskanian, Huntsman are words that cannot be placed
together in one sentence. In order for there to be money laundering,
there must first be dirty money. In this case, the source of the funds
are known, the buyer is known, the transfer of the funds to me and to
Civilitas according to the donor’s wishes have been transparent and
electronic. The attorneys have said that no tax obligation was created
as a result of the transaction. And the donor’s funds “shall be
considered as a donation and the Recipient has the right to use in its
discretion and for the implementation of its statutory objectives.
Only those with political motivations will attempt to reduce a good
man’s good work to political currency,” says Oskanian.
From: A. Papazian