YEREVAN, JULY 4, ARMENPRESS. According to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the events surrounding the Hayastan All Armenian Fund will increase the Diaspora’s trust towards Armenia, and not decrease it.

“We are proving and will prove that we won’t tolerate any manifestation of abuse,” the PM said on Facebook.

Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s director Ara Vardanyan has been detained by the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia on July 2 in suspicion of embezzlement and abuse.

The NSS said that Vardanyan has confessed in misappropriating the fund’s finances, including by using the money for online gambling.

According to Vardanyan, he has returned the misused money through the donated funds. According to him, he later entered personal cash to the fund’s bookkeeping, thus covering up the misused amounts.

In the last week alone Vardanyan transferred nearly 14,000,000 drams to online casinos from the fund’s credit card. The amount comprises nearly 130,000,000 in the period from 2016 to 2018.

NSS said it is currently carrying out inspections in the fund to clarify other possible abuses.

Vardanyan has been placed under arrest.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan