Experts treat initiation of criminal case against Migran Pogosyan for "Panamanian dossier" as pure formality

The criminal case instituted on the basis of publications about the offshore scandal will not be brought to the end, and no resonant resignations and lawsuits will follow it. This opinion was expressed by Armenian experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to the experts, the institution of the criminal case is pure formality.

On April 20, the Armenian police began a check in connection with the fact that the name of Migran Pogosyan, the retired chief of the Armenian Service for Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Acts, had been mentioned in the "Panamanian dossier" on offshore companies. On April 29, it was reported that the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia had sent to the Special Investigating Service the materials concerning the former chief of the Armenian Service for Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Acts, and on May 3, a criminal case was instituted under Article "Illegal involvement in entrepreneurial activities."

According to Hayk Gevorkyan, an economic observer of the newspaper "Haykakan Zhamanak", the institution of criminal proceedings against Migran Pogosyan is pure formality.

Hayk Gevorkyan sees in the activities of the former chief of the Armenian Service for Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Acts the signs of actions that investigators can interpret as legalization of money obtained by illegal means, illegal anticompetitive practice, tax evasion, and smuggling.

According to Hayk Gevorkyan, the authorities solve two problems: they "show the International Monetary Fund their willingness to punish the person involved in the scandal and intimidate of Migran Pogosyan himself."

Advocate Lusine Saakyan has stated that the investigating authorities are to check a number of factors related to the activities of the offshore companies registered in the name of Migran Pogosyan, the former chief of the Armenian Service for Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Acts.

However, Lusine Saakyan believes that the law enforcement authorities have instituted the criminal case to simulate the investigation and calm down the society.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.