ArmInfo.Former NSS chief Arthur Vanetsyan denies involvement and interest in Zangezur's activities Copper-Molybdenum Plant (ZCMC). He wrote about this in his Facebook page, where he also accused Prime Minister Pashinyan the creation of a "deep crisis of governance" by the country and the monipulation of the Karabakh peace process.
However, Vanetsyan did not deny the direct involvement of his father in the work of ZMMK, where he runs an ore transporting company. <As for my involvement in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, this is yet another attempt to denigrate my family. There is no legal basis. My father's freight company has been working with this plant since 2014>, Vanetsyan emphasized, noting that he was not personally interested in this plant and the Prime Minister knows this best of all.
It should be noted that the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, Mane Gevorgyan, said on the eve that the son-in-law of the third president of Armenia, the former Armenian ambassador to the Vatican, Mikael Minasyan, under the cover of fake owners, had shares in a number of large enterprises of Armenia, including LLC " SPAYKA "," Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine "," Yerevan-Mall "," Shant "shopping center," Armenia "shopping center, etc. The Armenian public was well aware of this without Gevorgyan.
As Gevorgyan also reported, "Most of these shares after the revolution of 2018 were hastily sold. For example, a share in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, abusing its authority and with the help of dummy shareholders, was sold to the former head of the National Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, Arthur Vanetsyan, whose father's company became a major cargo carrier of ZCMC. "One gets the impression that the key persons of the corruption system of Mikayel Minasyan, being potential accused, left Armenia, which became a significant obstacle to the investigation of corruption actions of Minasyan. The Prime Minister expects that, despite all the difficulties, the law enforcement bodies of Armenia will be able to conduct an investigation at an appropriate level and give reliable answers to the people of Armenia>, the spokeswoman noted.
Recall that Mikael Minasyan was prosecuted as a defendant in a criminal case on illicit enrichment, money laundering and the inclusion of false data in the income statement. There is no exact information regarding his current location. Minasyan himself previously via Facebook reported the initiation of more than 10 criminal cases against people related to him and his family. Last fall, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on Minasyan to return to his homeland and answer questions from the Special Investigation Service. Recall that back in January of this year, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan ordered to check the media information that among the shareholders of the country's largest mining enterprise - Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Plant (ZMMK) - there are people affiliated with senior officials of the former political mode.
Note that Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine CJSC (Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine CJSC) (ZCMC) is the largest mining company in Armenia. The company's shareholders are formally the German company Cronimet Mining (60%), Yerevan Pure Iron Plant OJSC (15%), Armenian Molybdenum Production LLC and Zangezur Mining LLC (12.5% each).
However, some experts, after checking the information, found it incomplete and not transparent, since the structure of minority shareholders is completely incomprehensible. The press passed information about the presence of interests in it on the part of the family members of the late President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan who resigned after the "velvet revolution". A number of parliamentarians of Armenia appealed to the relevant authorities with a demand to begin an investigation into the fact that rather "modest" persons close to the family and especially to the son-in-law of the former president began to own the company's multi-million dollar assets.