Cyorus prosecutor general says no shareholder of offshore company can be registered without hir/her permission

YEREVAN, July 1. /ARKA /. In an interview with RFE/RL Armenian Service, the prosecutor general of Cyprus, Petros Clerides, said no one could be registered as a shareholder of an offshore company without his or her permission. 

Earlier reports in the Armenian newspapers said law-enforcement authorities have brought criminal charges against a businessman, Ashot Sukiasian who misappropriated a $10 million loan which he borrowed from an Armenian commercial bank and transferred it to a bank account of an offshore company he set up in Cyprus.  According to the reports, the company is co-owned by Sukiasian, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, head of the Ararat diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Both Sargsyan and Kchoyan strongly denied having any shares in the company, saying  it was registered in their names without their knowledge. 

Tigran Sargsyan also asked the Office of the Prosecutor-General to investigate the media claims. He also shrugged off demands to set up an ad hoc parliamentary commission to look into allegations, suggested by the parliamentary minority. 

In the interview with RFE/RL Armenian service, Petros Clerides said he did not want to go into the details of this story before getting complete information and  documents which  are necessary for the investigation of the allegations.

When asked whether his answer means that no one could be registered as a shareholder of an offshore company without his or her permission Clerides said: "It is not possible, unless  the shareholder acts  through a proxy or in any other similar way."

Clerides said that he already talked about these allegations with his Armenian counterpart Aghvan Hovsepian. 

"A few minutes ago he told me about this story. It was the first time I  heard about this, Mr. Hovsepian  promised to give me all the necessary documents before I leave for Cyprus , and I have pledged to take immediate steps and provide an answer ",  he said. -0-