Category: 2020

ArmInfo. In the Special Investigation Service, another criminal case has been opened on the fact of exceeding official powers, which entailed serious  consequences by negligence.

According to the press service of the SIS, information was received  that in 2007-2012, an official who held the post of senior assistant  to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and then – first  deputy head of the Office of the President of the Republic of  Armenia, overstepped his authority, as a result of which “Old Erivan  Holding” LLC was damaged in the amount of 2 billion drams. It should  be noted that during the indicated period, the son-in-law of former  President of the RA Serzh Sargsyan – Mikael Minasyan, occupied the  position.

According to the SIS, data were received that on November 16, 2007, a  company owned by Manvel Ter- Arakelyan was given permission to  rebuild within two years “Odeon” cafe located near Tumanyan street  with an area of 564 square meters for further operation. The company  planned to begin the reconstruction of the cafe in 2008, but in  2007-2012 the aforementioned high ranking official exceeded his  authority and demanded that Manvel Ter-Arakelyan not restore or  operate the cafe, depriving the company of legal rights to use the  rented area for its intended purpose. As a result, the company  virtually ceased operations, and in 2007-2014 suffered losses in the  amount of 1 938 798 136 drams.  A criminal case has been instituted  in the Special Investigation Service in connection with the excess of  official authority, which entailed negligent grave consequences, in  part 3 of Article 309 of the RA Criminal Code.

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.  

ArmInfo.Allegations of coordination of Bright Armenia by Mikael Minasyan are an absolute lie. And people who make such statements are simply insane. Secretary  of the Bright Armenia parliamentary faction Gevorg Gorgisyan  expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

“I consider it a professional duty of journalists to demand  confirming facts from the authors of such scandalous news. It is  appropriate to recall that this lie did not prevent the same Nikol  Pashinyan from joining the Yelk bloc with us. First of all, because  this legend was invented by his own party in the Vanadzor election  2016, “the lawmaker said.

According to Gorgisyan, Bright Armenia always tried to be  constructive, represented in the parliament the projects created in  collaboration with other parties of the Yelk. However, becoming a  political majority, members of the Civil Treaty surprisingly quickly  forgot about these initiatives. And today they not only reject them,  but they also give their former partners in the bloc tough  characteristics, even calling them traitors to the nation.

“Even our attempts to introduce bills on constitutional amendments,  vetting, etc. are rejected. The manifestation of any criticism is  perceived as a manifestation of personal enmity. And by generating  aggression, colleagues from My Step brought the situation to a level  where opposition is seen as manifestation of moral and psychological  pressure, which should be resisted with fists, “he said.

In such a situation, the mere presence of the Bright Armenia  lawmakers in the parliament, according to Gorgisyan, creates tension.  And if the ruling majority des not realize their own guilt in the  brawl that has occurred, it will certainly be repeated. According to  him, the incident became evidence reigning in the minds of the  “stepping” majority, an atmosphere of universal impunity.

“The next step, apparently, will be an attempt to create a powerful  dictatorship. However, we have bad news for our colleagues – we will  not allow this. According to their logic, it turns out that they can  beat anyone with whose opinion they disagree and blame him for  provocations: if our colleagues think of politics in this way, then I  have a second bad news for them – they have nothing more to do in  politics. The public sees very well how the government up to the  prime minister refutes the obvious. And the authorities must, in the  end, realize this “, the parliamentarian summarized.

To recall, yesterday the information spread on social networks that  Edmon Marukyan is the of the son-in- law of the third  President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, former Ambassador of Armenia to  the Vatican Mikael Minasyan. Allegedly, the MP is on Minasyan’s  allowance, receiving from him $ 15,000 per month. Moreover, this  information also noted that Minasyan provided over $ 400,000 to the  party for the election campaign alone. 

ArmInfo. The head of the Bright Armenia parliamentary faction, Edmon Marukyan, complained that false information was being circulated through social networks regarding the party he led.  

During a live broadcast on Facebook, Marukyan  noted that this campaign aims to distract people from the country’s  problems and denigrate the party in the eyes of the public. “The  authorities use force to silence a person,” the head of the BA  emphasized. Marukyan noted that many users on social networks  organized hate campaign against the faction, in support of his words  the head of the faction showed photos containing insults and threats.  He also emphasized that when someone on the social network tries to  express an alternative opinion, he is immediately called a  provocateur, and “a servant of Azerbaijan”. 

“We have been expecting for 2 years that Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan will condemn the environment of hatred and intolerance  prevailing in our country, but he does not. I urge our followers not  to get involved in various disputes, since most of those who actively  incite such conflicts are fakes>, the lawmaker emphasized. In  conclusion, Marukyan noted. “In our respect, anti-propaganda is  carried out and it is obvious that it is the work of the authorities.  We have no choice but to report this to the public. All this is done  in order to distract you from your true challenges, because people  have no way to pay utility bills, some are even driven out of the  house, because many cannot pay for renting an apartment. However,  forgetting all this, some people are creating photo collages where I  hold the Azerbaijani flag. I urge you not to believe disinformation,  to be conscious and not to succumb to provocations>, the MP  concluded.

It should be noted that the work of the National Assembly of the  Republic of Armenia on May 8 was interrupted due to the conflict that  arose between the head of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan  and the lawmaker of the National Assembly from the My Step faction  Sasun Mikayelyan. Other members of parliament were involved in the  assault. Clarification of relations with the participation of  parliamentarians continued during the announced break, after which  the conflicting parties finally dispersed. After that, Marukyan began  to complain about the persecution carried out against his party in  social networks. To recall, yesterday the information spread on  social networks that Edmon Marukyan is the of the  son-in-law of the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, former  Ambassador of Armenia to the Vatican Mikael Minasyan. Allegedly, the  MP is on Minasyan’s allowance, receiving from him $ 15,000 per month.  Moreover, this information also noted that Minasyan provided over $  400,000 to the party for the election campaign alone to the new  parliament.

ArmInfo. The acting President of the Artsakh parliament Ashot  Ghoulyan said that he had decided to abandon the deputy mandate long  before this information was distributed.

During the press conference, Ghoulyan noted: “The fact is that the  formation of a new parliament has already begun, and I decided to  declare my decision, which I made during the election campaign. I  believe that there should be a generational change in the parliament,  it is very important>, “the Artsakh NA Speaker emphasized.

Regarding whether the speaker of the NKR parliament aspires to the  post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gulyan noted: “It seems to me  that the rumors that I am applying for the post of Foreign Minister  of Artsakh are somewhat related to my previous activities as Minister  of Artsakh Foreign Affairs. But now, I can’t say anything concrete  about this. Political forces met with the newly elected President of  Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, but we did not discuss specific issues.  Moreover, we did not concern personnel policy. It was agreed that we  will discuss all these issues on May 21, after the inauguration of  the President>.

It should be noted that on May 14, adviser to Ashot Ghoulyan Anush  Gavalyan noted that the current head of the Artsakh parliament would  refuse the mandate and had already submitted a corresponding  statement to the NKR CEC.

To recall, on March 31, 2020, parliamentary elections were held in  NKR. According to which, the Free Homeland / Unified Civil Alliance  bloc received 16 mandates,  leader of the bloc is the newly elected  Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan. The United Homeland party took  second place with 9 seats (party leader, Artsakh hero Samvel Babayan,  Ed. note). The third was Vitaliy Balasanyan’s “Justice” party – three  mandates, the ARF “Dashnaktsutyun” party – 3 mandates, the Artsakh  Democratic Party (head of the party Ashot Ghoulyan – Ed. note) – 2  mandate.