Russian–Armenian billionaire Karapetyan hit with new charges of money laundering

The defence team of detained Russian–Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan has announced that the tycoon was charged with money laundering through several companies.

A Facebook page dedicated to his defence council made the announcement on Wednesday morning, calling the new charges an ‘obviously unfounded accusation’.

‘It is obvious that in Armenia recently, “money laundering” has become the most common accusation and is regularly used exclusively in the context of political retribution’, read their statement.

‘It turns out that the accusation was made in the absence of any factual circumstance of any direct or indirect participation, concealment or distortion of the alleged funds. It is noteworthy that the actions described in the accusation did not mention any decisions of a managerial nature or any connection with property’, they continued.

Karapetyan has been in detention since 18 June on charges of making public calls to seize power. His arrest followed statements he had made in support of the Armenian Church in its ongoing conflict with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

‘If the politicians fail, then we will participate in our own way in all of this’, Karapetyan had said in an interview with News.am before his arrest.

Karapetyan, a prominent businessperson, owns the Tashir Group, which manages the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), the country’s sole electricity distributor.

Following his arrest, the Armenian Parliament adopted legislative amendments that would virtually allow the state to nationalise the ENA, which Pashinyan had previously said was not related to Karapetyan’s pro-Church statements, but instead was rooted in public discontent with the company’s services and frequent power outages in Armenia.

On Monday, Karapetyan announced that he had already begun creating a ‘fundamentally new political force’ through which he could cooperate with ‘like-minded people’.

‘We will do it in our own way’, he wrote in his announcement, in an allusion to the remark he had made before his arrest.

Pashinyan’s conflict with the Church appeared to escalate in late June, when at least 15 people were arrested on charges of seeking to violently overthrow the government with a coup d’état.

The authorities allege that the plot was spearheaded by the now-detained Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, an opposition figure who leads the anti-government Holy Struggle movement.

In an extended press briefing on Wednesday morning, Pashinyan appeared to criticize Karapetyan, saying he cannot behave the same way in Russia as he does in Armenia, according to Civilnet.

‘I say, my dears, just as you do in the country of your primary citizenships, stand to attention when coming to Armenia’, he said. ‘I have said that the taste of the state will remain in your mouths. And at a moment like this, the taste of the state will remain in their mouths for a long time. And I say this as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia’, Pashinyan said.