The results of the audit demanded by Armen Sarkissian, President of the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund and Chairman of the Fund’s Board of Trustees, will become clear in August. The Fund’s Director, Haykak Arshamyan, told reporters this today, July 28, in Gyumri.
“By decision of the Board of Trustees, a separate commission was created from among the members of the Board of Trustees, and that commission has already formed its opinion, and the auditor has also formed his opinion. All of that will be presented to the Fund’s Board of Trustees, and during the Board of Trustees’ proceedings, you will all be informed of the decisions, which I believe will take place in the month of August. That is, we have a report from the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the figures, revenues and government decisions; the auditor has also reviewed that report, as has the working group, which consists of members of the Board of Trustees, and I am also on that commission. It has been reviewed, the auditor has formed his opinion, so I believe this matter will be concluded by the decisions of the Board of Trustees. And then, when the decision is made, the public will certainly be informed. Right now it is simply a working process,” Arshamyan elaborated.
During the 44-day war, part of the funds raised by the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund — more than 52 billion drams — was transferred to the government in the form of donations, and after the war, criticisms were also voiced by members of the Fund’s Board of Trustees that the funds had been spent not for their intended purposes. The President had demanded back in December that the government present a clear, detailed and transparent accounting of the expenditures made with the Fund’s resources, and moreover, that it do so as publicly as possible. Eight months have passed since the President’s demand for an audit.
Haykak Arshamyan also today characterised the criticisms voiced as unfounded: “The Fund has been subjected to very inappropriate criticism, and it has simply become more of a campaign against the Fund and a campaign, ultimately, also against the diaspora, and also against those benefactors — large and small, it does not matter who gave how much money — against those people, than the reality warranted.”
