On 21 April, one of the online newsletters in Armenia, irakanum.am, published the news about the detention of Mihran Poghosyan, a former Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer (CCEO) of Armenia.
Poghosyan is best known for his shady offshore financial dealings as first reported by Hetq in April 2016 after the release of the Panama Papers.
On September 4, a Yerevan court threw out a suit filed by the Investigative Journalists NGO to force the Special Investigative Service (SIS) to hand over a copy of its decision to drop a criminal investigation into the offshore business interests of Mihran Poghosyan, a former head of the country’s Compulsory Enforcement Service.
Switzerland’s Ambassador to Armenia Lukas Gasser has replied to a Hetq inquiry requesting clarification as to why the Swiss Federal Department of Justice refused a petition by Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) for legal assistance in the case of the offshore business dealings of Mihran Poghosyan, Armenia’s former Major General of Justice.
It was part of the international Panama Papers expose; an investigation encompassing hundreds of reporters and scores of news sites delving into the unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonesca.
The Center writes: “We believe that the sponsorship, unprofessional approach and lack of follow-up by the authorities regarding similar cases in the past, like the Cyprus offshore business scandal surrounding former prime minister Tigran Sargsyan served as a precedent for the dropping of the criminal case against Poghosyan.”
Poghosyan’s resignation comes on the heels of recent revelations that he owns shares in three companies registered in Panama.
Major General of Justice Mihran Poghosyan, Armenia’s Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer, is one of the country’s officials who has sown deep roots in offshore economic zones.