MP Tovmasyan presses Armenia's chief prosecutor over ANIF corruption scandal

At a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs on Friday, non-partisan MP Taguhi Tovmasyan demanded transparency regarding the large-scale corruption involving the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF), where 25 billion drams (approximately $63 million) were misappropriated.

Tovmasyan pressed Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan over what she described as the biggest corruption scandal during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure. She criticized the lack of accountability, noting that although a criminal investigation was launched in 2022, no one has been charged to date.

“This is one of those cases where there is a criminal investigation, but no suspects,” she said. “Someone must be held accountable. These were large-scale, systemic corruption schemes, and neither the director of ANIF nor Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who proudly endorsed the fund in 2019 as a pivotal institution, could have remained uninvolved.”

Tovmasyan claimed that rather than attracting foreign investment as promised, ANIF had squandered public funds.

“The promised flow of foreign investments never happened. Instead, 25 billion drams vanished from the pockets of Armenian taxpayers. Moreover, Armenia now faces arbitration proceedings related to the Air Arabia joint venture,” the MP stressed.

Tovmasyan further alleged that relatives of officials from Armenia’s security agencies were employed at ANIF, receiving millions of drams in salaries. “These individuals are no longer affiliated with the fund, which itself is now defunct. Yet there is no clarity on what services were rendered to justify the millions spent on their salaries,” Tovmasyan added.

Tovmasyan urged the chief prosecutor to address the concerns either during the committee meeting or at the upcoming parliament session.