YEREVAN. – Samvel Karapetyan, the President of Tashir Group company, has refused to appear before the investigative body. Naira Harutyunyan, Acting Head of the Public Relations and Information Division of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am today.

The case concerns the conflict between Samvel Karapetyan's nephew, Narek Karapetyan, and businessman Vahe Parazyan.

Naira Harutyunyan said that Samvel Karapetyan was sent a notice to come for an interview, but Karapetyan stated that he was in Russia and could not come and, in addition, he wanted to exercise its constitutional right to refuse to give testimony.

Narek Karapetyan and his friend were charged with large-scale extortion.

Businessman Vahe Parazyan is accusing Samvel Karapetyan noting that he had seized their business using his contacts with Russian law enforcement agencies, as a result of which they had immigrated to Armenia. According to Parazyan, the Karapetyans found him in Armenia, too, and presented him with an account of 10 million euros.

The prosecutor's office had instructed that Samvel Karapetyan be interviewed within the framework of the respective criminal case.

Narek Karapetyan, in a conversation with the media, denied his involvement in any such incident, saying that the charges against him were fraudulent.