A spokesperson for the Nareg Hartounian family announced today that despite a court pronouncement that State Revenue Committee (SRC) Vice-President Armen Alaverdayn hasn’t violated the “presumption of innocence” of Hartounian, the same court has also instructed the SRC to avoid any statements that would put the innocence presumption of the diaspora-Armenian under suspicion.

The court instructed the SRC to do so until the on-going tax evasion criminal case involving the family owned company, GH Storage Enterprises, is completed.

At issue is a February 24, 2012 comment made by Alaverdyan during a TV program on the problems faced by diaspora Armenian investors inArmenia.

Alaverdyan stated, “The case of Nareg Hartoonian is a typical of our Armenians who regard Armenian as a source of revenues. Sadly, this normal manifestation is accompanied by the non-payment of taxes.”