Armenia's Audit Chamber will present findings on possible misappropriation of funds by end of June, says Khachaturyan

Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan today in Yerevan, at an annual meeting of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Board of Trustees, said the charitable organization must work in a transparent and accountable fashion free from any political influences.

“The pan-Armenian scope of the fund excludes any political tendency, reference or influence. Thus, there is no need to stress that the members of the fund's board and the entire staff should spare no effort to avoid any political manipulation or doubts,” said Khachaturyan who serves as president of the fund’s board of trustees.

Khachaturyan noted that Armenia’s Audit Chamber is expected to present its findings looking into allegations that monies raised by the fund during the 2020 Karabakh war were diverted to the war effort by the end of the month.

By the end of the war, the Fund had raised some US$170 million via its “We Are Our Borders” global fundraising campaign 

In October 2020, the Fund's Board of Trustees decided to transfer some 60 % of the money raised (about $105 million) to the Armenian government.

Immediately thereafter, questions were raised in Armenia and outside the country what the money was spent on and why the Fund decided to hand over the funds to the Armenian government.  

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, in September 2021, claimed that all monies raised by the Fund were spent on humanitarian aid. On week later, Diaspora Commissioner Zareh Sinanian confessed that some funds were diverted to the war effort.

The Fund’s Board of Trustees, December 2021, issued a statement that a working group it set up to investigate the matter, as well as a private auditor and Armenia’s Ministry of Finance, found no evidence that the money was used for other than humanitarian and infrastructure needs.

Fund board members Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan attended today’s meeting.