Tuesday, June 2 2020 15:23

ArmInfo. According to media reports in the framework of the criminal case under investigation, shares of a number of companies associated with the name of wanted son-in-law of former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan Mikael Minasyan have  been seized.

According to the <Haykakan Zhamanak> newspaper, with reference to the  www.1lurer.am portal and the data on the register of legal entities,  since May 7, shares of <Dzoraget Hydro> LLC have been seized, which,  as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously noted, was illegally  privatized. Mikael Minasyan's name was linked with this case in the  media.

To recall, in the criminal case regarding the "HPP Dzora" the former  head of the RA Defense Ministry Seyran Ohanyan, who is suspected of  embezzlement in the amount of 1,046,400,000 drams, is accused.

Minasyan's name is also associated with <Office Class> LLC, which  owns Opera Suite Hotel located in the center of Yerevan. On April 28,  stocks and transactions with dividends were seized, and yesterday,  June 1, stocks themselves were seized. A similar measure was applied  to the shares of Velofirm LLC, which owns the metropolitan DoubleTree  by Hilton hotel. Since May 8, the arrest was imposed on the shares of  the owner of Spayka company, David Ghazaryan, who, is charged in a  criminal case on non-payment of taxes and duties in especially large  amounts.

For several years Minasyan's name has been mentioned in connection  with Jazzve LLC (a chain of coffee houses); Starting April 28, a ban  was imposed on operations with shares and dividends of the company.

Since June 1, arrest has been imposed on the shares of the former  Panarmenian Media Group, the Armenia television company, as well as  on operations with shares and dividends of the news portal  www.news.am.  To recall, Panarmenian Media Group was the largest  media holding in Armenia, which in February 2019 announced the  termination of its activities. Armnews TV company, www.tert.am portal  and Good Radio, which are part of the Panarmenian Media Group,  transferred to Quartet Media CJSC, founded by former MPs Samvel  Farmanyan, Mihran Hakobyan, Karen Bekaryan and Arman Saghatelyan.  Arthur Janibekyan became the owner of "Armenia" TV company.  To note,  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. Later, a criminal case was also instituted  on the fact of abuse of power, which entailed, through negligence,  grave consequences. An arrest was chosen as a measure of restraint  against him, but there is no exact information regarding his current  whereabouts.

Earlier on her Facebook page, Prime Minister's Spokeswoman Mane  Gevorgyan stated that Minasyan had illegal stakes in the Spayka  company, the Shant TV companies and Armenia, the Yerevan Mall  shopping center, Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), and a  number of other companies. According to her, most of his share was  hastily sold after the "velvet revolution", and, for example, the  former director of the NSS, Arthur Vanetsyan, acquired a stake in  ZCMC, with a clear abuse of office and through dummy shareholders.  Gevorgyan also indicated that Vanetsyan's father owns a company that  has become a major cargo carrier of ZCMC. According to her, the  Government also has information that Minasyan has a share of  corruption in UCOM, and it is he who de jure owns part of the shares  of the family of the former super minister, former head of the State  Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan.