By Telegram channel 112Karen Vanetsyan, owner of the Oleyna brand and cousin of Arthur Vanetsyan, former head of the National Security Service of Armenia, was detained in Novy Arbat. He was put on the wanted list on charges of money laundering using official powers due to the purchase of shares of the Zangezur factory in Armenia. The information was confirmed by RBC with reference to two sources affiliated with the capital’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
112 writes that the video monitoring group of the Moscow Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs helped to detain Vanetsyan. During interrogation, he stated that he lives in a small town in the Lipetsk region and is not currently working. However, about a year ago, he bought Oleina brand sunflower oil for half the price. Vanetsyan is currently detained. Russia notified Armenia that the businessman was detained.
Lawyers deny
At the same time, Vanetsyan’s lawyers stated that the information that the entrepreneur was detained in the Russian Federation does not correspond to reality.
In their statement, the lawyers said, “Karen Vanetsyan is free and the rumors that she is in custody are not true.”
Defenders of the businessman emphasized that the decision to arrest him in absentia was made in Armenia “with many procedural violations” and was appealed to the Supreme Court, so it did not enter into legal force. Lawyers also claim that the accusations of the Armenian prosecutor’s office are “just a version”.
“For a version to be a real accusation, there must be evidence proving it, or rather information to confirm it. In this case, it is considered that Karen Vanetsyan’s actions have nothing to do with anything theoretical or practical. Or these are actions of a general nature that have nothing to do with criminal law,” the lawyers said.
Karen Vanetsyan herself told RBC that she was free. According to him “there was no arrest she.”
Vanetsyan case
Oppression HABER.am With reference to the press service of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia, it was reported that on November 1, 2023, a criminal case was opened against citizens of Armenia and Switzerland for laundering property obtained through crime. Agency “Sputnik Armenia” He wrote that we were talking about Vanetsyan.
According to the investigation, on July 23, 2018, a Cypriot company purchased a 12.5% stake in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZMMK), the largest taxpayer in Armenia, from Zangezur Mining, but a clear agreement was signed between them. negative for the company. According to preliminary data, ZMMC was ordered to pay a large sum to the Cypriot company, which was then used to purchase shares.
The investigation claims that the real owner of the foreign company is Vanetsyan, and that Zangezur Mining belongs to Mikael Minasyan, son-in-law of former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan, who is Armenia’s ambassador to the Vatican. Law enforcement officials believe that the defendant developed a criminal scheme to conceal the criminal origin and true nature of the shares. Thus, Vanetsyan managed to purchase an asset worth approximately $36 million for only $13 million and give it the appearance of legally acquired property.
Armenian investigators were unable to arrest the businessman because he was traveling abroad. He was put on the wanted list and a petition was sent to the Anti-Corruption Court to impose preventive measures against Vanetsyan in the form of arrest.
Some Armenian activists consider the criminal case against Vanetsyan to be politically motivated. This opinion is also expressed by Artur Vanetsyan, who was dismissed on the initiative of the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Vanetsyan’s assets
Karen Vanetsyan has two citizenships: Armenia and Switzerland. In 2012, she sold the Peresechansky oil extraction facility in the Kharkov region to the Swiss company Glencore, received a passport from this country and started living in Europe. He soon became the owner of Exoil Group, a large conglomerate 99% owned by the Cypriot company SGA Holdings Ltd, with only 1% directly owned by the businessman she. The holding operates in sunflower purchasing, processing, oilseeds and cereal crops trade, port transshipment and logistics. It was Exoil Group that acquired the assets of the American company Bunge, including Oleina and Ideal, on favorable terms.
Vanetsyan was born in Kharkov, where he started doing business. But after the events of 2014, he sold his assets in Ukraine, including a company that issued cards to pay for public transport in Kiev.