Prosecutor sends money laundering case involving ex-ambassador to  Vatican to court 

ArmInfo.  On May 5, 2025, the prosecutor sent to court a criminal case confirmed by an indictment against A.M., who committed money laundering in collusion with the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Holy See M.M. (Mikael Minasyan is the son-in-law of the 3rd President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan - ed.).

As reported by the press service of the supervisory authority, during  the investigation of the criminal case supervised by the Department  for Combating Crimes against Economic Activity of the Prosecutor  General's Office, the Investigative Committee established that A.M.,  with the prior consent of M.M. and L.A.  committed money laundering,  acquired and used, actually owned and disposed of property obtained  through criminal means, in especially large amounts, concealing and  distorting the criminal origin, ownership, true nature and source of  origin of this property.

In particular, M.M. and his accomplices, through organizations that  were not actually engaged in entrepreneurial activity, secretly  carried out the turnover of their financial resources from 2010 to  2017, transferring them to M.M.'s personal account, as well as to  accounts registered abroad and opened in the name of their  organization and another accomplice in a private bank in the Swiss  Confederation.

M.M. and his accomplices laundered 24 million 798 thousand euros  obtained by criminal means by acquiring shares, units and real estate  through an organization registered abroad, as well as through other  persons, including various organizations registered under the name of  L.A. In the described manner, 48 percent of the shares of Shant LLC  (Shant TV company) were acquired.

In particular, L.A. reached an agreement with the founder and  shareholder of Shant LLC on the acquisition of 48% of the shares of  Shant LLC for 5 million US dollars through an organization registered  abroad. For this purpose, on December 19, 2011, a loan agreement was  officially signed between the organizations actually owned by M.M.  and other accomplices, according to which one of the organizations  was obliged to lend the other organization 5 million 10 thousand US  dollars. Two days after signing the agreement, on December 21, 2011,  5 million 10 thousand US dollars were transferred from the account of  one of the specified organizations to the account of the other  organization opened abroad, and another day later, on December 22,  2011, 5 million US dollars were transferred from this account to the  account of the founder and shareholder of Shant LLC opened in the  Republic of Armenia: in exchange for the acquisition of 48% of the  shares of Shant LLC. As a result, on December 27, 2011, a purchase  and sale agreement for a share in the authorized capital of Shant LLC  was signed between the founder and shareholder of Shant LLC and an  organization registered abroad, according to which the said  organization acquired 48 percent of the shares of Shant LLC for 97  million 594 thousand drams.

After some time, L.A. and M.M., having reached a preliminary  agreement with M.M.'s classmate and close friend - A.M., began to  carry out actions aimed at concealing and disguising the true nature,  origin, ownership and method of disposal of 48% of the shares of  Shant LLC, already acquired by criminal means.  As a result, A.M.,  being informed at the time of acquisition of the criminal origin of  48% of the shares of Shant LLC, and also having the goal of assisting  L.A. and M.M. in avoiding liability for the crime he committed, on  October 9, 2015, having concluded a fictitious purchase and sale  transaction of shares with the same organization, gave his actions a  legal appearance, allegedly for 97 million drams he acquired 48% of  the shares of Shant LLC for 594 thousand drams.

On April 30, 2025, the prosecutor initiated a public criminal  prosecution against A.M. under Article 190, Part 3, Clause 1 of the  Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003 (legalization of property  obtained by criminal means (money laundering)), on May 5, 2025, the  criminal case with the approved indictment was transferred to the  Yerevan City Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction. Let us  recall that since 2020, Mikael Minasyan has been accused of illegal  enrichment, submitting false information in the declaration of income  and property, and legalization of property obtained by criminal  means; he has been put on the wanted list.