YEREVAN.- It is impossible to find the offended party in Oskanian’s case, professor of  Moscow State Law Academy Samvel Kochoi said commenting on former FM Vartan Oskanian’s case.

“There are crimes for which the consequences are unnecessary. If racketeers made an unsuccessful raid on the shop, it is  a crime in any case. No matter, whether they managed to steal something. But when it comes to appropriation Oskanian was charged with, there must be someone who has suffered. And here I can not find the victim. This is not Karapetyan [member of the Civilitas Foundation - ed.] and not Jon Huntsman. It is unclear where the victim is, if no one claims he has suffered the damage,” lawyer told reporters in Yerevan.

Jon Huntsman has not discussed any terms of managing the funds with Oskanian, he added

“Relations between them were built on trust, and the only condition was to manage the money for the benefit of the foundation,” he emphasized, adding he does not see violation of  Articles 179 and 190 of Armenia’s Criminal Code (embezzlement, legitimizing illegally obtained income).

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the National Security Service (NSS) Department of Investigation brought formal charges against Vartan Oskanian.

On May 25 NSS Department of Investigation had 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, and as per the NSSPressCenter, 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.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan/NEWS.am