88 GROUP has issued a statement concerning claims made about businessman Narek Nalbandyan during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s briefing, denying that they are true.
“During Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s briefing, journalist Vahe Makaryan made claims about Narek Nalbandyan, alleging that he invokes Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s name to expand his business activities and acquire property.
“We officially state that this claim does not correspond to reality. Narek Nalbandyan has not used and does not use the name of any official, especially the Armenian prime minister, to obtain any privilege, advantage or property in the course of his business activities.
“Therefore, we demand that journalist Vahe Makaryan publicly retract the above information circulated about Narek Nalbandyan and present the factual grounds on which his statements were based.
“At the same time, we note that the same person has also published or voiced information regarding the Hrazdan Cement transaction which, we maintain, does not correspond to reality,” the statement said.
The statement said that baselessly circulating the name of Narek Nalbandyan and a company affiliated with him, as well as disseminating unverified information damaging his business reputation, would not go unanswered.
“If no public retraction is issued, the company intends to go to court, seeking a retraction, in accordance with the procedure established by law, of information that does not correspond to reality and damages business reputation, as well as the application of other remedies provided for by law.
“If Vahe Makaryan has evidence supporting his public claims, we expect it to be published. Otherwise, we demand that the circulated information be retracted with the same level of publicity,” the 88 GROUP statement said.
On September 3, Pashinyan told reporters after a government meeting: “I have no favorite oligarch, and if there is someone in Armenia’s economic sphere who has been irritating me and our family beyond all tolerable limits, it is Narek Nalbandyan.”
He said he had instructed the relevant law enforcement agencies to initiate proceedings. According to Pashinyan, if it is established that Narek Nalbandyan is trying to create the impression that he has ties to the prime minister’s family, he “will face a harsher fate than the other oligarchs have faced.”
