Armenian lawmaker caught in the middle of electoral fraud scandal (video) April 14, 2017 - 13:31 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A number of media outlets on Thursday, April 13 published an audio recording, in which the moderator of a meeting of SAS Group employees pressed the latter into "persuading family and friends" to vote for Artak Sargsyan. Sargsyan is the owner and director of SAS Group and a lawmaker from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) who was re-elected to the parliament on April 2. In the audio material, recorded prior to the parliamentary elections, the speaker promises bonuses to “those bringing a lot of votes,” and even threatens to dismiss employees who fail to do so. PanARMENIAN.Net contacted SAS Group for comments, but an employee who seemed to be from the human resources department, said she has no idea what video we are talking about. Also, PanARMENIAN.Net found out that the prosecutor’s office is studying the case. Head of RPA faction Vahram Baghdasaryan, in turn, refused to comment, adding that the matter needs thorough investigation. He said Sargsyan may have been unaware of the meeting altogether. “Many of our media outlets might have employed some tricks,” he added. Top stories The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Defense Minister Suren Papikyan has visited the southern Armenian province of Syunik, the Defense Ministry reported on March 18. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |