Diaspora Ministry responds to money laundering accusations

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Diaspora Ministry would have never allowed any corruption attempts, Deputy Diaspora Minister Stepan Petrosyan stated, commenting on accusations of money laundering.

Earlier, the executive director of One Nation, One Culture foundation Tamar Poghosyan accused the Ministry of a money laundering attempt.

“The Diaspora Minister disallowed the money allocated by the state budget to the Foundation from being spent in unproductive manner,” the Deputy Minister said, explaining the cause of Ms. Poghosyan’s claims and the stir that raised.

As Petrosyan stated, Ms. Poghosyan concluded an AMD 25 million contract for stage services within One Nation, One Culture festival framework.

Upon looking into the matter, the Ministry discovered the indicated sum exceeded the market price greatly. An amount of AMD 18 million was transferred to the organisation providing the services. Ms. Poghosyan, however, demanded for the sum, stipulated by the contract, be paid.

Also, Ms. Poghosyan issued an additional AMD 2,8 million bonus for her own services, the Deputy Minister said.