Ucom Board Chairman says detention is not “expedient”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Gurgen Khachatryan, co-founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies and chairman of the board of directors at Ucom, has described charges brought against him as “a gross interference of free economic activity and a person's private life” by the country.

Khachatryan said on April 28 that Armenian high-ranking officials have demanded that Ucom be alienated. Gurgen Khachatryan is the son of Former Chairman of the State Revenue Committee and former Minister of Finance Gagik Khachatryan, who is currently under arrest and charged with embezzlement and abuse of power. On May 3, a court in Yerevan decided to take Gurgen Khachtryan under custody as, according to charges, he had supported the bribery scheme which also involved his father. Gurgen Khachatryn has not been arrested yet.

“Noting the extreme illegality of these trials, the fact that the decisions by the investigative body and the courts are influenced from outside, I do not consider it expedient to get involved in those processes and gain the status of a detainee. Today, the dismantling of business is on the agenda, without taking into account its social and economic consequences,” Khachatryan said in a statement on Monday, May 4.

He addressed Ucom employees and said the company “is an institution and there is nothing that will undermine the strength of the company.” Khachatryan also addressed local and international partners and said: “Rest assured that our group of companies stands firm in its position and is in control of the situation.”

Also Monday, the Khachatryans' legal team revealed that on April 30, the National Security Service notified Gagik Khachatryan's wife and Gurgen Khachatryan's wife to appear before the NSS as witnesses in the criminal case against their husbands.

The legal team said that due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Armenia and the fact that Gurgen Khachatryan's wife is taking care of their young children, the women asked to consider their failure to go the NSS as “excused”, but the body conducting the proceedings has again submitted a notice for the wives to appear before NSS.

The Khachatryans’ lawyers described the NSS’ actions as “illegal.”