Did Not Fear and Deceived Gagik Tsarukyan for Years: 'Zhamanak'

'Zhamanak' newspaper reports that the National Olympic Committee of Armenia has issued a statement regarding the management of the Tsaghkadzor cable car after the prosecution announced a tax obligation of nearly one million dollars related to the operation of the cable car.

The prosecution published the results of its investigation and announced the initiation of a criminal case.

In response, the statement issued by the Armenian Olympic Committee (AOC) did not actually refute the prosecution's claims. In any case, the AOC stated that it will seek to restore the damages caused to it during the cable car's operation by all legal means. This presents a rather interesting picture when combining the existing statements and details. The point is that the prosecution is effectively accusing the AOC of failing to pay taxes. The AOC has managed the cable car since 2004 by government decree. In turn, the Olympic Committee, led by Prosperous Armenia Party president Gagik Tsarukyan, passed the management of the cable car to a private company, Lernatur LLC, of which he is one of the founders and holds a 50 percent stake.

From the AOC's statement released on April 29, we learn that the committee is indirectly announcing the frauds and abuses committed by the former director of Lernatur over the years, particularly against the AOC.

In other words, the AOC implicitly accepts the prosecution’s statement but shifts the responsibility arrow to the former director of Lernatur. At the same time, it is announced that the AOC will legally recover the damages it has suffered.

In other words, Gagik Tsarukyan is effectively warning someone that they must either take responsibility and compensate for the unpaid taxes, which the prosecution states exceed 476 million drams, or further details will emerge that could shift the criminal responsibility onto the former director of Lernatur or any force standing behind him.

Here, it is crucial to understand who the other 50 percent partner of Lernatur was, with whom the AOC signed the cable car management contract and factually entered a 50 percent stake, and who this 'lion-hearted' former official was who, to put it colloquially, over the years has deceived Gagik Tsarukyan regarding the cable car's profits and presented minimal revenues without fearing a meeting with Gagik Tsarukyan's 'lions.'

There are grounds to conclude that someone displaying such behavior could hardly have been a random person, and moreover, it is unlikely that the AOC would have made such an agreement on a 50/50 basis with a random person.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.