Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has accepted the resignation of Ara Vardanyan, the Executive Director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, arrested on July 3 on embezzlement charges.

Sarkissian is president of the Fund’s Board of Trustees. Vardanyan’s resignation must still be approved by the entire board. Once the resignation is approved, the Fund will invite applications for the job.

Avoiding any direct reference to the charges levied against Vardanyan, Sarkissian, in a statement appearing on the presidential website, argues that the Fund has implemented important and beneficial projects since the founding of the Third Armenian Republic and has brought together national and religious organizations, benefactors and hundreds of thousands of individuals around its mission.

“However, it is clear that the Fund is in need of new organizational and conceptual approaches that will further increase the productivity, confidence and gravitas of the Fund ,” the statement reads.

The statement says Sarkissian, at a Fund board meeting on May 25, set a three-month deadline for the presentation of radical reform proposals.