Armenian Citizens Involved in Money Laundering Schemes Abroad

According to Hetq, around 100 Armenian citizens have been drawn into money laundering schemes abroad. Their details have been used to register companies and open bank accounts in several European countries. These companies have been utilized in various mechanisms of money laundering with the aim of concealing crimes and funding propaganda for political figures.

45-year-old Musheg Jabakhchuryan lives in a modest house in one of Yerevan's outlying neighborhoods, specifically Norq 1st lane. Musheg has worked in the cash collection of AraratBank, but now he is unable to do any work. During the 44-day war in Artsakh in 2020, he was wounded in the abdomen and ear. Some of his intestines are now outside his abdomen, and his hearing has been impaired. They lack sufficient financial resources to arrange for his treatment abroad.

However, Musheg is a founder of Equimach Sp Zoo, a European company registered in Poland in 2017, and he is also the chairman of the board of that company. He simply does not know what purpose that company was established for and what transactions it is engaging in.

Musheg is one of dozens of Armenian citizens whose details have been used to register companies and open bank accounts in several European countries. These individuals are aware only to the extent that they were invited to these European countries through acquaintances, stayed in the best hotels, signed some documents, spent a few days touring these countries, had a good time, and returned home. They are no longer concerned about what purposes these companies were established for and what transactions they later became involved in.

Many of the companies involved in money laundering are mutual shareholders and nearly all have similar websites created by the same two individuals, Orest Backman and Andrey Vastor. Journalists from Forensic News and Hetq have spoken to most of the founders and directors, analyzing financial documents, legal cases, and bank transfers to understand how this scheme operates.

Many of the companies are registered in Central Europe and Southeast Asia. They have been used in various mechanisms of money laundering for the purposes of concealing crimes and funding propaganda for political figures.

According to our partners at Forensic News, they spoke with several foreign banking experts who told them that Baltic banks have become more cautious about the companies that have accounts in their banks following previous scandals.

As a result, criminals have moved their business activities to other countries. The Czech Republic plays a role in this scheme. Individuals acting as directors have traveled specifically to the Czech Republic to open bank accounts for these companies. Marek Chromy, a senior analyst at the Czech Republic’s Transparency International, noted in a conversation with our partners that the Czech law enforcement agencies can be somewhat negligent regarding company registration requirements, which creates gaps in the application of laws.

During our first visit, Musheg denied ever having been to Europe and founded a company. However, during our second visit, when we showed him his own social media photos taken in Europe, he stated that he has memory issues after being wounded in the war, suggesting he may not have been able to recall this the first time and generally does not want to talk about it now.

When asked what the purpose of his visit was, who invited him, what company he founded, and whether he recognizes his signature on the founding documents and several other papers, Musheg was taken aback and replied emotionally, “I bought the tickets, I went. I entered the airport, I went. I entered the embassy, I bought tickets, I went,” he reacted, agitated after our question about the invitees, “I don’t know, leave me alone, don’t ask me questions.”

Musheg is not alone on these trips. His neighbor, Gevorg Sethyan, was also with him. Musheg says that Gevorg is a fellow soldier from the army and they grew up together. The Polish company Agrofusion Sp z.o.o. is registered in Gevorg's name. While near Musheg’s house on the way to his car, we manage to reach Gevorg Sethyan for a brief conversation. During our first visit, he was not home; we had left a message with his daughter to have him contact us to clarify some odd circumstances. Gevorg did not call us back and was not interested in talking to us. Our second visit was not to his liking either as he mostly responded to our questions with “it’s none of your business.”

Gevorg Sethyan is 45 years old. After exchanging a few words with him, we understood that he works as a driver, driving a taxi for a fee of 3,000 drams per day. He didn’t want to explain how, under these conditions and limited means, he traveled in Europe or managed to register a company in Poland.

Gevorg did travel to Warsaw and Prague to open bank accounts for the company. His social media posts also show that he has traveled to those cities. However, when we asked him what the purpose of his visit to Poland or the Czech Republic was, he only said he “went to wander around.” He did not answer what connection or purpose the company Agrofusion Sp z.o.o., registered in Poland, has.

It was clear that Gevorg had engaged in some actions related to the company’s establishment, but perhaps he himself did not know what he was getting involved in.

Nikolay, the son of Mamunt, is also implicated in these schemes. Nikolay owns Lynwood Capital Management Fund Limited, which has shares in the Russian mining company Polymetal. It should be noted that Polymetal also had assets in Armenia for some time, operating the Kapan Ore Dressing Plant until 2019. According to a bank document, Lynwood transferred $395,590 in April 2020 to another company registered in Malaysia, Protech Distribution Sdn. Bhd., to acquire equipment. The owner of Protech is another Armenian citizen, Arshavir Arzumanyan.

When visiting Arshavir’s home, we spoke with his mother and wife. Both denied that Arshavir has ever been to Malaysia.

According to Arshavir’s wife, if they had such a company, why would they work from morning till night?

Agrofusion, founded by Sethyan, also made payments to Overstar Trade LLP for transportation services in March and April of 2018. Overstar is owned by Oleksiy Veklan, an employee of Ukrainian Windrose Airlines, which in turn is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, the former head of Dnipropetrovsk region, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and is accused of corruption and laundering millions of dollars.

Some of the companies operating as laundry services have received funds from banks whose assets have been embezzled by the owners. Agrofusion has received $1.78 million from a Cyprus-registered company, Volandia Reserve Limited. Volandia obtained a Russian portfolio from Lithuanian Bankas Snoras, whose owner, Vladislav Antonov, was arrested after “removing the bank’s assets.”

According to one of the financial documents, Musheg’s founded company Equimach applied for rental services from another company, Worldtex Sp z o.o., in Poland in 2018, paying 410 euros. Worldtex Sp z o.o. is managed by Armenian citizen Roza Grigoryan. According to the company’s report, Worldtex’s bank accounts were frozen by the Polish prosecutor’s office in January 2019 on suspicion of money laundering and financing terrorism.

Many of the companies were created by ArranConsult, which has also established other companies involved in a Moldovan scandal. The archived website of ArranConsult shows two more companies, Dackon LP and Balfern LP, which are co-owned by Roza Grigoryan as well.

We first met Roza in May 2022, and during that meeting, she denied any involvement in the establishment of any companies. Her words seemed convincing. However, we later discovered from her Facebook photos that she has been both in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

Our next encounter with Roza was in January of this year. We failed to find her at home; during a phone call, she demanded that we leave their home and not disturb her regarding this issue anymore. Roza works at a beauty salon, so we met her right at her workplace. According to her, she has no connection to those companies. After a few of our questions, Roza stated that if she has any issues, it is her business, and she will resolve them.

Armenian citizens are involved in companies providing lobbying and promotional services. According to the site, Roza Grigoryan's company Balfern LP is engaged in lobbying services in the U.S., funding these services, including for the lobbying campaigns of Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko. MKW Group, which lobbied for Tymoshenko, received $40,000. The law firm Wiley Rein, which also lobbied for Tymoshenko, received $63,000 from three different companies—Vizientas Pte Ltd and Fenix Invest Pte Ltd, both registered in Singapore, and Czech Venus Commercial Sro. The director of Venus Commercial Sro is also an Armenian citizen, Marina Alikhanian.

We visited Marina in January of this year as well. Upon learning that we were journalists, she did not open the door, promising to call back later, but she never contacted us and did not respond to our phone calls.

Finally, ITBC LLC, registered in Maryland and owned by Ukrainian-American Sergey Krasnitsky, received $360,000 from Vizientas and Venus Commercial for Tymoshenko's campaign.

For more details, refer to the source.