On January 23, 2017 Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) made a decision on dropping criminal investigation into the offshore business and terminating criminal proceedings against Major General of Justice, Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer Mihran Poghosyan for lack of corpus delicti.

It should be reminded that on April 4, 2016 based on the publication of hetq.am electronic media outlet, SIS initiated a criminal case based on Article 310 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity).

According to hetq.am report, Mihran Poghosyan was a shareholder of three companies registered in Panama: Sigtem Real Estates Inc., Hopkinten Trading Inc. and Bangio Invest S.A.. Moreover, he had shares in the first two offshore companies in March 2011, i.e. when he was the Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer, using his position to advance his business interests.

The grounds for terminating criminal proceedings were that SIS mediations requesting legal assistance were turned down by competent authorities of the Republic of Panama and Swiss Federal Department of Justice or no answer was received during nearly 8 month-long pretrial investigation. Subsequently, based on no reply from competent authorities of foreign countries, SIS concluded that there was no evidence on Mihran Poghosyan’s actions. Moreover, Mihran Poghosyan claimed that the whole story on offshore scandal was a misinterpretation.

On the heels of the publication of offshore scandal Mihran Poghosyan resigned on April 18, 2016 on the pretext of his unwillingness to be found in the same scandalous list with Ilham Aliev. However, after dropping the criminal case he is planning to run for parliament as a Republican Party candidate for 2017 elections by district lists.

We believe that the patronage, unprofessional approach and inconsistency by the incumbent authorities regarding revelations of similar corruption cases in the past, like the Cyprus offshore scandal that involved former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan served as a precedent for the dropping of the criminal case against Poghosyan.

As a nongovernmental organization advocating democratization and good governance in Armenia, we consider impermissible cover-up and failure to follow-up the case, as well as inclusion in any political party list the name of Mihran Poghosyan whose engagement in entrepreneurial activity, corruption and other scandals was often reported by media outlets.

Transparency International Anticorruption Center