National Security Service reveals details from health minister's personal correspondence - Antifake.am

Antifake.am reports details of the ongoing conflict between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan.

The dispute reportedly arose after the National Security Service (NSS) hacked the minister's Facebook page to access his personal correspondence. The available information revealed that Torosyan scolded and unsparingly criticized the prime minister. The angry remark "Take care of your patient!", a phrase attributed to Torosyan, was picked from his Facebook correspondence with Narek Vanesyan who is currently in charge for quarantine oversight measures in Yerevan.  It was that declassified correspondence that is thought to have actually caused the minister to deactivate all his Facebook profiles.

The website reports that no meeting took place between Torosyan and the prime minister. The NSS actually put the minister's personal correspondence with friends on the prime minister's table, thereby evoking his strong anger. And Pashinyan later shared his concerns at the meeting of his Civil Contract  party. The premier reportedly decided, in his angry mood, to send Torosyan on a vacation on condition that he would never return. Not satisfied with that, however, he also ordered a probe against the health minister, accusing him of financial abuse and a failure to properly handle the coronavirus epidemic. In response, Torosyan revealed to friends information about possessing tape records from Pashinyan, saying that the conversations therein would practically rule out any criminal case against him. He said he would publish those records to create a win-win situation should Pashinyan ever move to initiate a prosecution against him.  

The website also refers to earlier press reports saying that the Commendant's Office asked for a report on financial costs, citing abuses in the fight against the coronavirus crisis. Torosyan is said to have submitted a general financial report without outlining the specific expenses to help identify the exisiting financial gaps. In the conversation with friends, however, the minister said it was all about $14-$15 million.

With the tensions running high in Pashinyan's team, the NSS is now said to be actively following his team members' personal correspondence in an attempt to find critics. Torosyan thus turns out to be the first major victim of the race which, in all probability, is still to continue.

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