No defendant in criminal case against ANIF - Armenian Investigative Committee

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YEREVAN, 15 October. /ARKA/. The chairman of the Investigative Committee of Armenia Argishti Kyaramyan provided MPs with some information today regarding the criminal case against Armenian National Interest Fund (ANIF) CJSC./pp ‘The criminal case is conducted by the Main Department for Special Assignments of the Investigative Committee, which acts under my direct supervision. The case is at the investigation stage, and from the legal point of view, as well as from the point of view of the case, I don't consider it right to discuss the current criminal procedures,’ Argishti Kyaramyan said. As for the defendants, he said there are none at the moment./pp

The criminal case was initiated in 2022 for alleged abuse of authority and embezzlement on a large scale./pp/pp

ANIF was established in 2019 with the aim of attracting foreign investment under the Entrepreneur + State partnership. Its scope covered renewable energy, agriculture, healthcare, services and tourism, among others.br/pp

During the first four years of its existence, the Fund has implemented about a dozen investment projects together with Armenian and foreign investors.nbsp;/pp

About two years ago the Fund's balance sheet and the report on financial results for 2022 were not approved by the government5 due to the discovered discrepancies in the documentation. In November 2023, the powers of Tigran Avinian, the chairman of the ANIF, and two other members of the board of directors were prematurely terminated./pp

At the end of 2023, certain problems with reporting, transparency and the level of corporate governance were identified. After that, the government changed the mandate of the Fund, its structure and the management team./pp

One of ANIF's failed projects concerns Fly Arna, a national carrier created in partnership with Air Arabia Group. -0-/p