Anti-Corruption National Initiative
ANTI-CORRUPTIONNATIONALINITIATIVE

Hayk Demoyan to Submit a Report to Law Enforcement over the Waste of Public Funds

Hayk Demoyan, former director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and Doctor of Historical Sciences, has announced that the circumstances surrounding the possible waste of public funds and the purchase of a cultural artefact of questionable provenance should be investigated by law enforcement agencies. The matter concerns a medieval door panel purchased by the Armenian government from the Sam Fogg auction house in London, whose Armenian origin and value the historian disputes.

According to Demoyan, the claims made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan that the door panel is the door of a 12th-century Armenian church lack sufficient scientific substantiation. He also questions the dating, geographical provenance, and authenticity of the object, noting that there is no Armenian inscription on the panel and that the complete expert documentation concerning it has not been made public.

The historian maintains that the transaction price may exceed the artefact’s actual market value by at least ten times. He does not rule out the possibility of a prior arrangement with the auction organizers and demands that it be established whether any violations occurred during the transaction. Demoyan has announced that he will submit a report concerning the possible waste of public funds to the National Security Service, the Anti-Corruption Committee, and the Prosecutor’s Office.

Let us recall that ANI addressed this topic in its September 1 publication, “175 Million Drams for One Door: Another ‘Masterpiece’ of Pashinyan’s Government”, presenting the circumstances of the purchase, Demoyan’s suspicions, and the authorities’ response. The total cost of the transaction amounted to 175 million 360 thousand drams. Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan had stated that the artefact’s age had been established through radiocarbon testing and its value through professional assessments.

Demoyan is demanding that law enforcement examine the correspondence with the auction house, the terms of purchase, the basis for determining the price, the expert assessments, the radiocarbon dating documents, and the customs documents concerning the importation of the door panel into Armenia. He is also demanding that the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of other cultural artefacts from the same source be clarified.

The issue is also urgent because, according to Demoyan, the government intends to acquire the second panel of the same door from Beirut. The historian is calling on law enforcement agencies to prevent any new allocation of public funds until the circumstances of the first transaction have been clarified, and has expressed his willingness to provide a professional assessment of the artefact’s provenance, dating, and authenticity.

The allegations and suspicions presented by Demoyan have not yet received a legal assessment. Documentary evidence and an independent expert examination are necessary to reach final conclusions regarding the legality of the transaction and the artefact’s provenance.

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