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OSKANIAN REFUSES TO TESTIFY ON MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES AMID MORE ALLEGATIONS OF PRESSURE ON PAP
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/38693/vartan_oskanian_money_laundering_civilitas_foundat ion
Politics | 14.06.12 | 12:05
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP from the Prosperous Armenia
party (PAP) Vartan Oskanian has refused to testify upon being summoned
to the National Security Service (NSS) for the second time in the
past several days.
"Today, I was again summoned to the National Security Service to give
testimony. The message NSS disseminated yesterday indicated that I
would be interrogated as a suspect rather than a witness. Given this,
I resolved to make use of my constitutional right and not to testify,"
Oskanian said in a post on his Facebook profile page on Wednesday.
The NSS is conducting a criminal investigation in connection with
alleged money laundering by the Civilitas Foundation, a think tank
founded by Oskanian upon his leaving the foreign minister's post
in 2008.
Oskanian insists that the criminal case is politically motivated and
is retribution for his hard-hitting criticism of the government in
the lead-up to the May 6 parliamentary elections.
The PAP, of which Oskanian has been a senior member since February this
year, refused to form a coalition with the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) in the post-election period, leading to speculation that
Gagik Tsarukyan, the PAP leader, will refuse to throw his political
weight behind the RPA leader and current president Serzh Sargsyan
in next February's presidential vote, while the party will choose to
field its own candidate, possible Oskanian.
In another development linked by many to politics, the Ararat Cement
factory owned by Tsarukyan is said to have stopped its operations.
Tsarukyan's spokesman Iveta Tonoyan neither denied nor confirmed the
media reports on this, but said: "You need not seek any political
context."
The factory employs more than 1,000 workers.
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/38693/vartan_oskanian_money_laundering_civilitas_foundat ion
Politics | 14.06.12 | 12:05
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP from the Prosperous Armenia
party (PAP) Vartan Oskanian has refused to testify upon being summoned
to the National Security Service (NSS) for the second time in the
past several days.
"Today, I was again summoned to the National Security Service to give
testimony. The message NSS disseminated yesterday indicated that I
would be interrogated as a suspect rather than a witness. Given this,
I resolved to make use of my constitutional right and not to testify,"
Oskanian said in a post on his Facebook profile page on Wednesday.
The NSS is conducting a criminal investigation in connection with
alleged money laundering by the Civilitas Foundation, a think tank
founded by Oskanian upon his leaving the foreign minister's post
in 2008.
Oskanian insists that the criminal case is politically motivated and
is retribution for his hard-hitting criticism of the government in
the lead-up to the May 6 parliamentary elections.
The PAP, of which Oskanian has been a senior member since February this
year, refused to form a coalition with the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) in the post-election period, leading to speculation that
Gagik Tsarukyan, the PAP leader, will refuse to throw his political
weight behind the RPA leader and current president Serzh Sargsyan
in next February's presidential vote, while the party will choose to
field its own candidate, possible Oskanian.
In another development linked by many to politics, the Ararat Cement
factory owned by Tsarukyan is said to have stopped its operations.
Tsarukyan's spokesman Iveta Tonoyan neither denied nor confirmed the
media reports on this, but said: "You need not seek any political
context."
The factory employs more than 1,000 workers.