Legal Basis for Sasha Sargsyan to Return $30 Million to State Budget Nonexistent: Defender

The investigation into the criminal case against Aleksandr Sargsyan, the brother of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, is ongoing.

This was stated by Mihran Poghosyan, the lawyer defending Sargsyan's interests, during an interview with "Hraparak". Referring to the announcement about returning $30 million to the state budget, the lawyer said, "I have commented on this several times, that there is no legal basis for returning money to the state budget, as it does not entail taking from the state budget and then returning it. That is why I answered your question very briefly: the criminal case is at the investigation stage."

In response to the media's observation that the Prime Minister made such a statement, the defender reacted, "That is, where does such information come from, and on what basis was it reported?"

When asked if his client is prepared to transfer that money to the state budget, Mihran Poghosyan said, "When we find it necessary, we also make public statements at that time. There was a public statement made previously, and after that, our public reaction followed. We have not found it necessary to issue any statement following the next announcement."