Criminal Case Against Former Head of State Revenue Committee Dropped After Golden Palace Transfer to State

The criminal case against former head of the State Revenue Committee, Armen Avetisyan, for illegal participation in entrepreneurial activities and laundering large sums of money has been dismissed by the NSS. This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office in response to a written inquiry from Hetq.

“On October 31, 2019, the investigating authority decided to dismiss the criminal case and not to pursue Armen Avetisyan regarding the crime defined in Article 190 of the RA Criminal Code (money laundering) due to the absence of a crime in the act, and under Article 310 of the Criminal Code (illegal participation in entrepreneurial activities) due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal liability,” the prosecutor's office stated.

This means that according to the Prosecutor's Office, the allegation of money laundering in the case was not substantiated. The Prosecutor's Office also noted that Armen Avetisyan had the status of a witness in this criminal case, and there has been no individual with the status of a defendant in the case.

It is noteworthy that a year ago, when the criminal case was initiated, the National Security Service issued a statement indicating that “preliminary data suggests that Armen Avetisyan, since taking office as head of the State Revenue Committee in 2001, collaborated with associates to fund the construction of the Golden Palace hotel complex on Liberty Avenue in Yerevan primarily with cash.”

About two months after the initiation of the criminal case, during the electoral campaign for the National Assembly, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armen Avetisyan's family was donating the Golden Palace hotel in Tsaghkadzor to the state. Following the government meeting on July 4, 2019, Narek Babayan informed that there were no legal issues concerning the donation of the hotel to the state, and at the government meeting on September 26, the decision was made to accept the hotel valued at 15.8 million drams as a donation.

Thus, it turns out that about a month after the hotel was donated to the state, on October 31, a decision was made not to pursue Armen Avetisyan and to dismiss the criminal case. It should be noted that on November 21, the government decided to auction the hotel for 7.5 billion drams.

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