Authorities’ plans fell apart because Samvel Karapetyan refused to make deal – David Ghazinyan

The actions of the Armenian authorities toward philanthropist and businessman Samvel Karapetyan, apart from other cases, are driven by fear of the consolidation he could achieve while abroad, legally, however, there is no case at all, David Ghazinyan, former acting CEO of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), told reporters.

He added that for now it is beneficial for the authorities that the philanthropist remains in detention.

Ghazinyan called the decision of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to revoke the ENA’s license a farce. “We participated in this only for one reason—so that our society would be aware of what they are doing. You saw the concrete facts with which we refuted their claims. They presented witness testimonies – our employees – and we said: here the testimonies contradict each other, we suggested bringing these people here for questioning. But they refuse to do it,” he noted.

Commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that the state would acquire ENA if the price was acceptable, Ghazinyan said: “Which of his statements is truthful? This man knows very well the approximate market value and knows that the state is not in a position to acquire it by attracting external debt of hundreds of millions of dollars. In my view, their plans fell apart because Samvel Karapetyan refused to make a deal. Their goal was to push him into a deal, then they took another path. No self-respecting person or organization with a good reputation, whether international or domestic, will buy ‘ENA.’ There is a certain ‘moral code.’ No other organization will come and take what was seized from a billionaire. The question here is which forces or countries benefit from acquiring the company.”