We put the money in the account for 45 minutes and took it out, and we didn’t know about being co-owners of the house: Khachatryan on undeclared funds

This morning, Sasun Khachatryan, the nominee for the head of the Anti-Corruption Committee and the head of the Special Investigation Service, responded to a question from Daniil Ioannissian, the head of the civic organization ‘Informed Citizens’, regarding the 2017 donation received by his wife, which included 2.8 million drams and $1,600 deposited into a bank account and subsequently withdrawn, without it being reported in the annual declaration. 168.am reports.

Sasun Khachatryan provided the following clarification in response to the question addressed to him: “In May 2017, I was outside of Armenia. My daughter had received an invitation from a university in Greece, and the embassy required that one of the parents have a certain amount in their account as a guarantee that the child would be taken care of. I was not in Armenia, and my wife asked her brother, Tigran Gevorgyan, to transfer the specified amount to an account opened in his name. This amount was transferred by Tigran Gevorgyan to my wife Lilit Khachatryan's account, and a certificate was provided, after which, 45 minutes later, that amount was withdrawn from the account and returned to Tigran Gevorgyan. The certificate was submitted to the Greek embassy. This is the entire story; it was merely my wife’s brother creating that guarantee for his sister's child to have the opportunity to go to university in Greece,” said Sasun Khachatryan.

According to the head of the SIS, none of this constitutes a loan, and he does not know how it could be represented in any way. “I cannot imagine if something happens, we could declare it; the problem is actually difficult for me,” he added.

The nominee for the head of the Anti-Corruption Committee was also informed that there is real estate registered in his wife's name, and again there are inconsistencies. Sasun Khachatryan joked, “As I understand it, all the problems lie with my wife. We were married in 1996; my wife’s parents still live in one of the high-rise buildings in the Erebuni district. They have an apartment there, about 50-60 square meters. My wife and I have never been aware that when that apartment was privatized, she was registered there as a co-owner with her parents, brother, and sister. We were only aware that she was registered there. That is the reason why it was not mentioned in the declaration by mistake. In the second declaration, we will state that my wife has property,” concluded Sasun Khachatryan.