Panama Leaks Probe Criminal Case Against Former Armenian Official Dropped

YEREVAN (Hetq .am) — Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) has dropped the offshore business case against former Compulsory Enforcement Service head Mihran Poghosyan.

The SIS says that its investigation into the offshore business interests of Poghosyan failed to reveal any incriminatory evidence of wrongdoing.

Hetq wrote about the Poghosyan’s (Armenia’s former Chief Compulsory Officer) shady financial dealings in Panama and his Swiss banks accounts in April 2016, after data was uncovered in the Panama Papers. The data was obtained by the German newspaper SüddeutscheZeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 110 media partners from 82countries, including Hetq.

Just yesterday, after working hours, the SIS reported to Hetq that on January 11, 2017, Switzerland had turned down its request for legal assistance in the case. No details were given. The SIS also alleged that it had not received any word from Panama regarding its request for legal assistance in the Poghosyan investigation.

The criminal case filed against Poghosyan by the SIS has stalled ever since the April 2016 revelations regarding Poghosyan’s offshore business activities. (Poghosyan resigned soon afterwards, always maintaining his innocence.)

SIS Press Secretary Marina Ohanjanyan told Hetq that the decision to drop the case against Poghosyan was reached yesterday as well, after the SIS ‘conveniently’ announced the rejections of legal assistance by Switzerland and Panama.