Moscow resident Alexander Aghazaryan, who had made an announcement after the arrest of former FM of RA Alexander Arzumanyan, had claimed that the money that he had transferred from Moscow to Arzumanyan in Yerevan have got nothing to do with “money laundering”. By the request of RA Prosecutor General’s Office the Russian Prosecutor’s Office is examining the financial history of Aghazaryan. They are inspecting whether the latter is regularly paying taxes and whether his incomes are collected by legal activity. Let’s remember that on Tuesday when answering to questions of the journalists in Yerevan Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chayka said, “the case is in the preliminary stage and after the examination we will inform everybody of the results.” Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan added that during the coming days new information will be received and publicized to people via media. Alexander Aghazaryan when speaking to Radio Liberty reporters on the phone confirmed that the Russian investigators had been communicating with him. He said, “Of course, they called me to the Prosecutor’s Office and talked to me. I have answered the questions, which concerned them.” According to him he pays all his taxes and that the money he had sent to Arzumanyan have legal origination. “I don’t know at what stage of investigation the Prosecutor’s Office is because they don’t report to me on that,” Aghazaryan told RFL and added, “the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office doesn’t have any serious materials to continue this case. That’s why it has applied to the Russian one so that they find some dirty papers to process the case and bring up the accusation. I don’t think it is possible to do so in Russia because the laws are endorsed here and no one will take any order like that.” Arzumanyan attorney Hovik Arsenyan during his conversation with RFL claimed that “no investigation is being conducted either in Russia or in Armenia because there are no legal grounds or evidences to consider Arzumanyan guilty.” Arsenyan thinks that very soon prior to the Presidential elections the Prosecutor’s Office will have to cancel Arzumanyan’s case and withdraw all the accusations. It’s hard to tell why Arzumanyan’s attorney is so sure of the further steps of the government. According to our information nothing was changed in Armenia during this short period.
