Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) on Tuesday reported details of its fraud charges brought against former President Robert Kocharian’s son Sedrak, saying that he evaded nearly $2 million in taxes.
Sedrak Kocharian revealed on Monday that he has been charged with tax evasion and money laundering. He rejected the accusations as “fabricated,” saying that they are part of the Armenian authorities’ persecution of his arrested father and broader family.
In a statement, the NSS said that the criminal case stems from $5.3 million which had been donated to Kocharian Jr. by an unnamed “third person.” It claimed that he used a complex fraud scheme to illegally avoid paying about 917 million drams ($1.9 million) in income tax which should have been levied from that sum.
The NSS statement added that through one of his companies the ex-president’s son legalized the “revenue obtained by criminal means” by adding it to his $5.7 million bank account. That money was then spent on the purchase of a three-star hotel in downtown Yerevan, it said.
The statement said that the director of that company, Aleksan Vorskanian, has also been charged with tax evasion and pleaded guilty to the accusation.
The NSS stressed that its investigation is not yet over. “Large-scale investigative actions are being taken to ascertain the legality of the acquisition by Sedrak Kocharian and members of his family of numerous properties and other assets,” it said.
The NSS director, Artur Vanetsian, said in September that his agency is scrutinizing what he described as hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets belonging to former President Kocharian and his relatives.
Sedrak was subsequently questioned as a witness in that corruption probe. He will risk heavy fines and up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of tax fraud and money laundering.
Robert Kocharian was arrested in December on charges stemming the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan which left ten people dead. He denies them as politically motivated.
The 64-year-old ex-president, who ruled the country from 1998-2008, has also denied enriching himself or his family while in office. He has only admitted that his two sons are engaged in entrepreneurial activity.
Source: Azatutyun
