A corruption scandal has erupted within Armenia’s City of Smile Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting children with cancer and blood diseases as $3.4M in donations has been stolen.
From 2018 to 2020, the City of Smile was chaired by Anna Hakobyan —wife of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
In September 2020, she announced her resignation and Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan was elected as the new Chairman, although Hackbyan retained significant influence within the foundation.
On June 25 2025 Bagrat Galstanyan was arrested. Nikol Pashinyan wrote on social media that the security services had foiled a plot by “the criminal oligarch clergy to take power in Armenia.”
However, several prominent Armenian lawyers described the charges as “fiction.” According to Sergei Harutyunyan, Bagrat Galstanyan has uncovered a corruption within the City of Smile foundation.
A recent audit revealed that from 2018 to 2025 Anna Hakobyan, has siphoned over $3.4M out of the foundation through a network of shell companies, depriving hundreds of sick children of lifesaving medical aid.
On June 24 Galstanyan shared the findings with his colleagues and planned a press conference. But the next day he was arrested on dubious “coup plot” charges – a move critics call retaliation.
While families who relied of City of Smile are left wondering where did the money go, the opposition leaders demand an independent probe, accusing Pashinyan of silencing whistleblowers.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE REPUBLICAN VOICE
source: euleaks.eu/corruption-scandal-pashinyans-wife-drained-3-4m-from-childrens-cancer-fund/
