Monday,
Ex-President’s Undeclared Assets ‘Investigated’
• Naira Bulghadarian
Switzerland - Switzerland's national flags fly beside the logo of Swiss bank
Credit Suisse in Zurich, April 24, 2017.
Armenian prosecutors on Monday pledged to look into reports that former
President Armen Sarkissian had failed to declare millions of dollars stashed in
a Swiss bank.
According to an international journalistic investigation conducted by the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Sarkissian is among
current or former officials from around the world and their relatives who have
held hidden accounts in Switzerland's second-largest bank, Credit Suisse.
The OCCRP, a nonprofit journalism consortium that partners with dozens of media
outlets, released the findings of the investigation, based on a massive data
leak, in a weekend report.
The reported said in particular that Sarkissian and his sister Karine kept more
than 10 million Swiss francs ($11 million) in Credit Suisse from 2006 through
2016. Sarkissian served as Armenia’s ambassador to Britain from 2013-2018,
meaning that he had to declare his assets to an anti-corruption state body. He
only admitted having 8 million euros ($10 million) held elsewhere.
Hetq.am, an Armenian media outlet that also took part in the OCCRP
investigation, said that Sarkissian confirmed that the money belonged to him and
his sister but denied any wrongdoing.
“At that time [Armenian income] declarations were not done electronically and
did not require officials to declare concrete bank accounts,” he told the
investigative publication. He claimed that he was only obliged to disclose his
cash assets.
Haykuhi Harutiunian, the head of the Commission on Prevention of Corruption,
denied the claim. “All kinds of financial assets had to be declared,” she told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
A spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor-General, Gor Abrahamian, said that
law-enforcement authorities will closely examine the information. He argued that
inaccurate or incomplete asset declarations are a criminal offense in Armenia.
France - Armenian President Armen Sarkissian takes part in the Summit of Minds
in Chamonix,17Sep2021
Sarkissian, 68, had lived and worked in London for nearly three decades before
becoming Armenia’s largely ceremonial president in 2018. He made a fortune in
the 2000s, working as an advisor and middleman for Western corporations doing
business in the former Soviet Union.
Sarkissian unexpectedly resigned on January 23, citing a lack of powers vested
in the presidency. Hetq.am, claimed that he stepped down because it emerged that
he violated a constitutional provision stipulating that the president must have
been a citizen of only Armenia for at least six years before taking office.
The publication said that an ongoing investigation conducted by it jointly with
the OCCRP has revealed that Sarkissian was a citizen of the Caribbean island
country of Saint Kitts and Nevis “not long before being elected president in
March 2018.”
Prosecutors instructed Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) to investigate
that report. The NSS has not publicized any conclusions so far.
Sarkissian left the country several days before his resignation. In a January 25
statement, the presidential press office reaffirmed the stated reason for the
resignation and accused the independent publication of trying to “divert public
attention with a false agenda.”
Azerbaijan Issues Arrest Warrants For Kocharian, Sarkisian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his predecessor Robert Kocharian
visit Gyumri, 7 December 2008.
The Azerbaijani authorities have issued international arrest warrants for
Armenia’s former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian.
An Azerbaijani military prosecutor said on Monday that the two men born in
Nagorno-Karabakh have been indicted for helping to launch in 1988 demonstrations
for the Armenian-populated territory’s secession from Azerbaijan and unification
with Armenia. He said they are also wanted for their role in the 1991 creation
of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Kocharian and Sarkisian, who led Karabakh during its 1991-1994 war with
Azerbaijan, were quick to scoff at the accusations.
“The filing of accusations against Serzh Sarkisian by the Aliyev regime is in
itself a caricature,” his office said in a statement.
It said that Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018, will continue to use
his “extensive connections and experience” to fight for the Karabakh Armenians’
“right to a free, independent and secure life.”
The statement also stressed that Sarkisian and Kocharian, who now lead Armenia’s
two main opposition groups, are also prosecuted by the “capitulator authorities”
in Yerevan which it claimed are now effectively allied to “Azerbaijan’s ruling
clan.”
A spokesman for Kocharian likewise linked the Azerbaijani arrest warrants with
separate corruption charges leveled against both ex-presidents and strongly
denied by them. Bagrat Mikoyan said they come amid Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s continuing “flirtation” with Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev.
“The Armenian authorities, who are begging for peace from Azerbaijan at the cost
of national dignity, are receiving help from their ‘educated and constructive’
friends,” he said tartly.
Armenia - Tens of thousand of Armenians demonstrate in Yerevan in support of
Nagorno-Karabakh's unification with Soviet Armenia, February 1988.
Baku already issued international arrest warrants for Karabakh’s current leaders
shortly after the 2020 war. Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General condemned
the move at the time, saying that it has “taken measures” to prevent them from
being placed on Interpol’s most wanted list. It did not immediately react to
Baku’s latest move.
During his nearly two-decade rule Aliyev held numerous face-to-face meetings
with Kocharian and Sarkisian aimed at ending the Karabakh conflict. Over the
past year he has repeatedly lambasted his former Armenian counterparts. The
verbal attacks mostly followed their harsh criticism of Pashinian and his
handling of the disastrous war.
The arrest warrants came the day after Armenia’s current and former leader
issued statements marking the 34th anniversary of the start of the popular
movement for Karabakh’s unification with Armenia.
“The movement was the first step in restoring our statehood,” read a statement
released by Pashinian.
“Today Artsakh (Karabakh), though wounded, is still standing,” he said. “Today
our steps are aimed not only at solving the socio-economic problems of the
Armenians of Artsakh and overcoming security challenges but also at protecting
their rights.”
“Artsakh will always be ours,” Kocharian said for his part.
Iranian FM Hails ‘Expanding’ Ties With Armenia
Germany - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (left) and his Iranian
counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meet in Munich, February 19, 2022.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian praised Iran’s relations with
Armenia and reaffirmed his government’s strong opposition to any “geopolitical
change” in the region when he met with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan
at the weekend.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of an annual conference on international
peace and security held in the German city of Munich.
“Amir-Abdollahian described bilateral relations between Tehran and Yerevan as
deeply expanding,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the talks.
He said that senior Armenian and Iranian diplomats should build on this positive
dynamic by negotiating a new “document on bilateral cooperation,” the statement
added without elaborating.
Amir-Abdollahian was also reported to hail the planned opening of an
Armenian-Iranian “transit route” for regional trade. He clearly referred to an
ambitious project to create a transport corridor that would connect Iran’s
Persian Gulf ports to the Black Sea through Armenia and Georgia.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mirzoyan and Amir-Abdollahian agreed
on the need to finalize an agreement on that corridor that would pass through
Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province bordering Iran as well as Azerbaijan.
The Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, said last month
that Syunik must remain “the principal transit route” for cargo shipments
between Armenia and Iran even after the anticipated launch of
Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links. The Iranian side is therefore looking
forward to further highway upgrades in the strategic Armenian region, he said.
Armenia - A cargo terminal at a border crossing with Iran, November 29, 2018.
(Photo by the State Revenue Committee of Armenia)
The Armenian government last week announced its first step towards attracting
potential contractors for the multimillion-dollar construction of a new highway
in Syunik that will significantly shorten travel time between Armenia and Iran.
“We hope that by the end of the year we will have [selected] a company that will
carry out that work,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during a session of
his cabinet.
Armenia lost control over a 21-kilometer stretch of an existing Syunik road
leading to the Iranian border after a controversial troop withdrawal ordered by
Pashinian following the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Last September, Azerbaijan
set up checkpoints there to tax Iranian vehicles, triggering unprecedented
tensions with Tehran.
An influential Iranian cleric accused Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in
October of trying to “cut Iran’s access to Armenia.” More than 160 members of
Iran’s parliament issued a joint statement warning against “any geopolitical
change and alteration of the borders of neighboring countries.”
Meeting with Mirzoyan, Amir-Abdollahian likewise “emphasized Tehran's opposition
to any geopolitical change in the region,” according to the Iranian Foreign
Ministry.
Armenian, Saudi FMs Hold First-Ever Talks
Germany - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his
Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan meet in Munich, February 19, 2022. (Photo
by the Saudi Foreign Ministry)
Saudi Arabia signaled more overtures to Armenia as the foreign ministers of the
two countries having no diplomatic relations met for the first time over the
weekend.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Armenian
counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan held talks on the sidelines of the annual Munich
Security Conference in Germany.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said they “reviewed bilateral relations in various
fields of cooperation and ways to support and enhance them.” They also explored
“opportunities to enhance bilateral coordination” and discussed “many regional
and international issues,” it wrote on Twitter.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mirzoyan discussed with Al Saud
“prospects for establishing relations and cooperation” between their nations and
expressed readiness to work on setting “bilateral and multilateral agendas.”
“During the meeting, the Foreign Ministers emphasized the importance of
promoting trade and economic ties, implementing investment programs, and
establishing contacts between business circles,” read a statement released by
the ministry.
Saudi and Armenian foreign ministers are not known to have met in the past.
Saudi Arabia - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talks to Armenian
President Armen Sarkissian during the Future Investment Initiative forum in
Riyadh, October 26, 2021.
Saudi Arabia has for decades refused to establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia due to its conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The
oil-rich kingdom signaled a change in that policy after its relations with
Armenia’s arch-foe and Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey deteriorated significantly
several years ago.
The policy change was highlighted last October by then Armenian President Armen
Sarkissian’s visit to Riyad. Sarkissian sat next to Saudi Arabia’s de facto
ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the opening ceremony of an
international conference held there.
“We spoke about our diplomatic relations, and we agreed that in reality our
diplomatic relations started with that visit,” Sarkissian told the Saudi
newspaper Arab News in December.
The Karabakh conflict has not prevented Armenia from developing relations with
other Gulf Arab monarchies, notably the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Both
nations have embassies in Yerevan.
Successive Armenian governments have maintained closer ties with Iran, Saudi
Arabia’s main regional rival.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.