NSS head Artur Vanetsyan announced that a new case has been opened against Robert Kocharyan for money laundering. According to Vanetsyan, Kocharyan used a 6 million dollar bribe to take ownership of the “Congress” hotel.
Aravot spoke to one of Kocharyan’s lawyers in connection to this, and asked about how he would explain what Kocharyan did.
Kocharyan’s lawyer Aram Orbelyan responded, “Every time a problem arises in the SIS, NSS, or other state law enforcement body, a new case is opened in order to derive attention from that. If we look at the information regarding this, the “Congress” hotel was purchased in 2014. Robert Kocharyan did not hold any state position in 2014 and hadn’t done so for a long time, and neither did any of his children. Now, when the case is discussed, we will understand what kind of bribe that was, who gave it to whom, and we will explain in more detail what happened. Besides, we can’t envision how any bribery could’ve taken place to begin with. If this was about something that happened in 2007-2008… but we’re talking about 2014. We’re surprised and waiting to see what advancements this will have in the future.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
