YEREVAN. – There is no issue of arresting Vartan Oskanian, removing his parliamentary mandate, or restricting his freedom of movement, Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan said Tuesday during his closing remarks at the National Assembly (NA) special hearing on his formal petition to include The Civilitas Foundation founder, former FM, and currently Prosperous Armenia Party MP Vartan Oskanian as a defendant in a criminal lawsuit. He also assured that no restraining order will be issued against Oskanian.

“Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office defends the interests of The Civilitas Foundation and the good name of the Huntsman family. We are not saying why have you, or have not, spend the money. We are solely maintaining that you have appropriated $181,000 from the money spent at your discretion,” Hovsepyan noted.          

The Prosecutor General added that submitting this petition to the NA does not have a political motive. “The case is under investigation, and the objective of the petition is [to conduct] an uninhibited and impartial investigation,” Aghvan Hovsepyan stated noting that, owing to the investigation, the damages worth $870,000 were returned to the foundation.      

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. In his turn, Vartan Oskanian considers the charges to be politically motivated.

The Civilitas Foundation was founded in 2008 by Vartan Oskanian. After joining Prosperous Armenia Party ahead of the May 6 parliamentary elections, however, Oskanian gave up his post as the Foundation Chairman.