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MONEY POLITICS IN ARMENIA, GEORGIA AND "HOOLIGANISM" IN AZERBAIJAN
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
June 13 2012
NY
Political money is the most precarious kind of money in the Caucasus
these days. Whether they spend or earn, opposition figures are finding
that state auditors and security services have suddenly developed
an active interest in keeping them au courant with campaign-finance
regulations
Shortly after speculation picked up that Armenia's second-largest
party, Prosperous Armenia, a former government coalition member,
may go into opposition against the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
ahead of next February's presidential elections, a money-laundering
investigation was launched against senior Prosperous Armenia member
Vartan Oskanian, who served as foreign minister from 1998 to 2008.
"Money, laundering, Oskanian... are words that just don't go together,"
fumed Oskanian, who described the probe as political retaliation.
Government officials, in turn, instructed the angry ex-cabinet-minister
not to jump to conclusions. Do not immediately allege "a political
subtext," Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian was quoted by RFE/RL as
saying. "We are only clearing up some circumstances."
And the circumstances are that a Yerevan think-tank founded by
Oskanian, Civilitas, allegedly received a $2-million donation from two
US companies, Polymer Materials and Huntsman International. Armenia's
National Security Service claimed that Oskanian failed to disclose
the donation to the tax authorities and that there are suspicions of
legalizing a large amount of money obtained by criminal means.
To launder money, money must be dirty to start with, countered
Oskanian, underlining that "the source of the money is known, the
buyer is known."
As this pre-presidential-election battle is going on in Armenia, to
the north, in Georgia, a pre-parliamentary-election battle is also
focused on the provenance of political money.
Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, now the country's main opposition
figure heading into October's parliamentary vote, is appealing a
court ruling that he pay a whopping 148.64-million-lari (just over
$91 million) worth of fines for allegedly bribing voters. Amidst the
appeal, he could face a judgment lien on his property in Georgia.
In the third South Caucasus country, Azerbaijan, where a presidential
vote is more than a year away, officials appear to have other concerns
at hand -- protecting the First Family, and, opposition activists say,
cleaning up shop after Eurovision.
On June 12, photographer Mehyman Huseynov, an activist in the Sing
for Democracy protest movement, was taken in for questioning by Baku
police, who are keeping him in detention. He reportedly faces charges
of hooliganism at a May 21 protest where, human rights activists say,
his camera was seized and broken by police when they moved in to crack
down on the demonstration. If convicted, he faces a year in prison.
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
June 13 2012
NY
Political money is the most precarious kind of money in the Caucasus
these days. Whether they spend or earn, opposition figures are finding
that state auditors and security services have suddenly developed
an active interest in keeping them au courant with campaign-finance
regulations
Shortly after speculation picked up that Armenia's second-largest
party, Prosperous Armenia, a former government coalition member,
may go into opposition against the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
ahead of next February's presidential elections, a money-laundering
investigation was launched against senior Prosperous Armenia member
Vartan Oskanian, who served as foreign minister from 1998 to 2008.
"Money, laundering, Oskanian... are words that just don't go together,"
fumed Oskanian, who described the probe as political retaliation.
Government officials, in turn, instructed the angry ex-cabinet-minister
not to jump to conclusions. Do not immediately allege "a political
subtext," Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian was quoted by RFE/RL as
saying. "We are only clearing up some circumstances."
And the circumstances are that a Yerevan think-tank founded by
Oskanian, Civilitas, allegedly received a $2-million donation from two
US companies, Polymer Materials and Huntsman International. Armenia's
National Security Service claimed that Oskanian failed to disclose
the donation to the tax authorities and that there are suspicions of
legalizing a large amount of money obtained by criminal means.
To launder money, money must be dirty to start with, countered
Oskanian, underlining that "the source of the money is known, the
buyer is known."
As this pre-presidential-election battle is going on in Armenia, to
the north, in Georgia, a pre-parliamentary-election battle is also
focused on the provenance of political money.
Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, now the country's main opposition
figure heading into October's parliamentary vote, is appealing a
court ruling that he pay a whopping 148.64-million-lari (just over
$91 million) worth of fines for allegedly bribing voters. Amidst the
appeal, he could face a judgment lien on his property in Georgia.
In the third South Caucasus country, Azerbaijan, where a presidential
vote is more than a year away, officials appear to have other concerns
at hand -- protecting the First Family, and, opposition activists say,
cleaning up shop after Eurovision.
On June 12, photographer Mehyman Huseynov, an activist in the Sing
for Democracy protest movement, was taken in for questioning by Baku
police, who are keeping him in detention. He reportedly faces charges
of hooliganism at a May 21 protest where, human rights activists say,
his camera was seized and broken by police when they moved in to crack
down on the demonstration. If convicted, he faces a year in prison.