Tweet
ARMENIA EX-FOREIGN MINISTER HIT BY GRAFT PROBE
Agence France Presse
June 12, 2012 Tuesday 6:32 PM GMT
Armenia's security service said Tuesday it has launched a corruption
case against an organisation founded by the ex-Soviet state's former
foreign minister which he slammed as politically motivated.
The national security service said it was probing alleged money
laundering involving the Civilitas Foundation think tank of Vartan
Oskanian, a former loyalist who has recently been criticising the
ruling party.
The security service said in a statement that it suspected that
some of the proceeds from a $2 million (1.6 million euro) company
share sale earmarked for charity were diverted to accounts held by
Oskanian and another official at his think tank and illegally used for
"personal goals".
Oskanian insisted however that the transaction was legal and the case
was "clearly politically motivated".
"Only those with political motivations will attempt to reduce a good
man's good work to political currency," he said in a statement.
The authorities however have denied unfairly targeting the former
minister.
"I rule out any political subtext," Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian
told Radio Liberty's Armenian service.
Oskanian served as foreign minister from 1998 to 2008 but stood as
a candidate in parliamentary elections last month for Prosperous
Armenia, a party led by a super-rich former arm wrestling champion
which refused to rejoin the governing coalition after the polls.
President Serzh Sarkisian's governing Republican party won a majority
of seats in the legislature, with Prosperous Armenia coming in second
but alleging electoral violations.
Agence France Presse
June 12, 2012 Tuesday 6:32 PM GMT
Armenia's security service said Tuesday it has launched a corruption
case against an organisation founded by the ex-Soviet state's former
foreign minister which he slammed as politically motivated.
The national security service said it was probing alleged money
laundering involving the Civilitas Foundation think tank of Vartan
Oskanian, a former loyalist who has recently been criticising the
ruling party.
The security service said in a statement that it suspected that
some of the proceeds from a $2 million (1.6 million euro) company
share sale earmarked for charity were diverted to accounts held by
Oskanian and another official at his think tank and illegally used for
"personal goals".
Oskanian insisted however that the transaction was legal and the case
was "clearly politically motivated".
"Only those with political motivations will attempt to reduce a good
man's good work to political currency," he said in a statement.
The authorities however have denied unfairly targeting the former
minister.
"I rule out any political subtext," Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian
told Radio Liberty's Armenian service.
Oskanian served as foreign minister from 1998 to 2008 but stood as
a candidate in parliamentary elections last month for Prosperous
Armenia, a party led by a super-rich former arm wrestling champion
which refused to rejoin the governing coalition after the polls.
President Serzh Sarkisian's governing Republican party won a majority
of seats in the legislature, with Prosperous Armenia coming in second
but alleging electoral violations.