YEREVAN. – The Civilitas Foundation founder, former FM, and currently Prosperous Armenia Party MP Vartan Oskanian believes that the current situation in connection with the charges made against him “remind the year 1937. There is a man and a Criminal Code article, but there are no facts.” Oskanian himself stated this while addressing the National Assembly (NA). 

To note, the NA is discussing on Monday the Prosecutor General’s formal petition to include Vartan Oskanian as a defendant in a criminal lawsuit.

“This is not even a storm in a glass of water; this is a storm in a thimble. It turns out that there is money, but there are no grievances,” Oskanian noted, and stressed that the accusations made against him are simply insulting.   

The MP added that his family never had a need for money and, as proof, he recalled that he is the descendant of a wealthy Armenian family, whose four generations conducted gold and diamond trade.

“I have never spent Armenia’s money. But, owing to me, many organizations provided loans to Armenia. I don’t doubt that this is a political directive [handed down] against me and Prosperous Armenia. I worked as head of MFA for ten years. Do I deserve such treatment?”, Vartan Oskanian concluded.          

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, on May 25 the National Security Service (NSS) Department of Investigation filed a criminal lawsuit on charges of money laundering with respect to The Civilitas Foundation.

The NSS Press Center had informed that an investigation is underway in connection with selling the 100-percent shares of the Huntsman Building Products Company for around $2 million, but not informing Armenia’s tax authorities about this business deal; not using for charitable purposes $1,135,000 of that amount envisioned for charity; transferring this amount to the bank accounts opened under the names of the Civilitas Foundation’s founder Vartan Oskanian,  and of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees member Tigran Karapetyan; and using some of this amount for private purposes.

In addition, as per the NSS Press Center, The Civilitas Foundation had not presented a report on the $2 million allocated for charitable purposes.