Mihiran Poghosyan Involved as Defendant in Money Laundering Case

In the framework of a criminal case investigated by the Special Investigative Service of Armenia, the former chief enforcement officer Mihiran Poghosyan has been involved as a defendant on charges of committing a criminal act under Article 190, Part 3, Subpart 1 of the Armenian Criminal Code, namely, legalizing property obtained through criminal means (money laundering).

Mihiran Poghosyan, due to his illegal involvement in entrepreneurial activities, is accused of having accepted especially large amounts of property through criminal means obtained from the operations of several companies he effectively managed, as well as from the "Katherine Group" LLC and other affiliated organizations, which failed to pay taxes of particularly large amounts. He allegedly concealed and distorted the real source of a particularly large amount of 1,190,000 USD, aiming to legalize that money by declaring it as a loan, transferring it to the bank account of "Katherine Group" LLC, and using it for the company’s ongoing operations, including the repayment of loan obligations.

Specifically, according to a formal agreement signed between M. Poghosyan and "Katherine Group" LLC on May 11, 2015, M. Poghosyan provided a loan of 500,000 USD to "Katherine Group" LLC in the name of providing temporary financial assistance, interest-free. Subsequently, on May 11 and 26, 2015, he transferred 200,000 USD equivalent to 96,000,000 AMD and 300,000 USD equivalent to 143,700,000 AMD to the bank account of "Katherine Group" LLC, which actually belonged to him.

Additionally, on May 23, 2015, based on an interest-free loan agreement signed between an offshore company registered in the Republic of Panama and "Katherine Group" LLC, an authorized person acting on behalf of M. Poghosyan transferred 690,000 USD equivalent to 329,130,000 AMD to the bank account of "Katherine Group" LLC.

Through these actions, M. Poghosyan concealed the real source of particularly large amounts, equivalent to 1,190,000 USD, obtained from illegal entrepreneurial activities he participated in, thus legalizing it. The pre-investigation continues. Necessary investigative actions are being carried out in the criminal case to fully disclose the alleged crimes and to clarify the entire range of participants.