Armenian ex-leader's fraudulent embezzlement schemes

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Nowadays, it is clear that the situation in which the Armenian government now finds itself, with no ability to participate in the financing of any projects, occurred because all of the country's leaders when they came to power, were only engaged in corruption and embezzlement of state budget funds.

Former Armenian President Armen Sarkissian's fraud schemes were exposed by the Swiss newspaper Süddeutsche, which published an international journalistic investigation by SuisseSecrets based on leaked bank account information. Sarkissian, according to the information, fled with a sum in excess of $10 million.

According to the newspaper, the number of Armenian citizens or people associated with Armenia in the leaked data exceeds 500, and the number of bank accounts exceeds 400, including Armen Sarkissian and his family members.

Thus, the former president and his sister's Credit Suisse bank account contained more than ten million Swiss francs. It should be noted that the account was established in 2006 and was serviced until 2016. The ex-president did not declare the funds in this account.

To recall, in September 2013 Armen Sarkissian was appointed Armenian ambassador to the United Kingdom, and from that moment, according to law, he became “a person obliged to submit a financial declaration”.

However, when analyzing the declarations submitted to Armenia’s Corruption Prevention Commission, it becomes clear that neither in the declaration upon assuming the post of ambassador in 2013, nor in the annual declaration of 2014, 2015 and 2016 the former president indicated the above-mentioned funds.

Furthermore, the Armenian Hraparak newspaper recently reported that Sarkissian owns property in Switzerland, which he denies. According to the same newspaper, one of the most likely reasons for Sarkissian's resignation is his dual citizenship in the Caribbean.

The Baku-based news website Day.az notes that Sarkissian appears to have decided to follow in the footsteps of Levon Ter-Petrosian, Robert Kocharian, and Serzh Sargsyan and that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is doing the same.

In mid-January of this year, Armenian journalists learned that the bookmakers Vivaro Media and Toto Gaming had transferred 5 million drams and 1 million drams, respectively, to one of Pashinian's funds, City of Smile. Furthermore, tycoon Khachatur Sukiasyan donated 3 million drams to this fund, according to Day.az.

"The foundation is ostensibly a 'charitable' foundation, but it is unclear for what purpose the funds were transferred. This has caused consternation among Armenian citizens, who are speculating on social media that it could be a bribe or money laundering," according to the news website.

In addition, a closed report on corruption in Armenia was distributed in Brussels in March 2019. According to the report's authors, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is the country's most corrupt official, with an estimated €1.5 billion in embezzlement.