The Pyramid of Lies of Armen Sarkissian Collapses: The President is Forced to Resign

President Armen Sarkissian mentioned several reasons in his resignation letter, but it seems that they have little to do with his resignation. According to Hetq.am, the reason for his resignation is singular: he was a citizen of another country at least prior to becoming president.

When the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) sent an inquiry to President Armen Sarkissian regarding his citizenship of another country, he demanded evidence. It should be noted that this country is not the United Kingdom, of which Armen Sarkissian was a citizen and which became known before his election. Armen Sarkissian has been a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a small country in the Caribbean.

We had information that the president had a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis, which was confirmed during correspondence with Sarkissian. We cannot present the details of the investigation at this stage, as it is a cross-border investigation and is still ongoing.

On January 23, yesterday, the President of Armenia made a statement regarding his resignation. A remarkable fact is that prior to this announcement, he had answered our several questions regarding his citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis. At that time, he was on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. He left for vacation due to health issues. He resigned without ever returning to Armenia.

When we forwarded the passport data we had in response to his request for evidence, Armen Sarkissian put forward his version. In his version, he claims that he invested in that country years ago. In the correspondence, the president admitted that he had a share in one of the hotels in Saint Kitts and Nevis. According to the claim, he transferred the share to a family member before becoming the ambassador of Armenia to the United Kingdom in 2013.

There is a program in Saint Kitts and Nevis for obtaining citizenship through investment, and Sarkissian states that he became a citizen through this program without his knowledge. In his response to us, he noted: "...my motivation was to invest, and the passport did not interest me at all.”

According to Sarkissian's claims, before being appointed as the Armenian ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2013, he instructed his lawyer to return the Saint Kitts and Nevis passport to the state.

Continuing his version, Sarkissian mentioned that in 2017, when he was offered to become the President of Armenia, he found out that the aforementioned instruction had not been fulfilled. It also turned out that the person (not his lawyer) who was supposed to deal with Sarkissian's citizenship issues had passed away. After that, Sarkissian wrote a letter to the deceased's son, who worked in the same company, explained the situation, and reiterated his request.

The fact is that Armen Sarkissian officially began the process of renouncing his citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis in March 2018, not long before being elected president. In this case, he could not have been elected president according to the Constitution. All decrees he signed, including laws, appointments of officials, elections, even the appointment of the prime minister, are illegal.

Sarkissian informed us that he considers he is not a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis from the moment he requested to freeze his citizenship after obtaining it through investments.

President Armen Sarkissian is unlikely to return to Armenia, as he may face criminal liability based on forgery of documents.

Note: The cross-border investigation will be published later.