YEREVAN. – If Armenia’s Prosecutor General had submitted a petition against Ruling Republican Party’s (RPA) National Assembly Faction leader Galust Sahakyan instead of The Civilitas Foundation founder, former FM, and Prosperous Armenia Party MP Vartan Oskanian, RPA MP Hamlet Harutyunyan still would have voted in favor of the petition. Harutyunyan himself stated this during a press conference on Saturday.   

“[And] Why are we bringing Galust Sahakyan’s example? If it were my case, I would have cooperated with the law enforcement,” the MP added. 

And reflecting on Caucasus Institute Director, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan’s assessment that if Oskanian had been in RPA, he would have been Mother Theresa, Hamlet Harutyunyan said: “I don’t understand the Mother Theresa-Vartan Oskanian comparison very well because Mother Theresa is not in the political category, since she is from another realm.”     

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the National Assembly on Tuesday voted—by 64 ballots for, six against, and with one invalid vote—in favor of Prosecutor General’s petition to include Vartan Oskanian as a defendant in a criminal lawsuit. A total of 71 MPs participated in the voting.

To note, 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.