Armenia's Special Investigation Service continues the preliminary investigation into the latest wiretapping scandal that involved Vartan Oskanian, a lawmaker of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), and Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of the oppositional Armenian National Congress (HAK). The private conversation between the two lawmakers that appeared on Youtube in December 2012 immediately caused a stir in the political circles.
The investigation revealed that the conversation was bugged in October, 2012, at an open-air café, Rich, by Swan Lake next to Liberty Square in Yerevan.
Levon Zurabyan, Vartan Oskanian, waiters and director of the café have been called in for questioning. Also, contact has been established with relevant organizations for getting more information on the bugged audio material. The SIS has studied numerous websites and given corresponding assignments to the special police division.
In the wiretapped conversation, the two men speak about possible presidential candidates in the February 18 presidential election.
Immediately after the dissemination of the bugged material, Oskanian and Zurabyan said they did not know about that the wiretapping, and said it was a violation of privacy laws. They said they were illegally recorded, and accused the National Security Service (NSS) of bugging their conversation and using for political gain. The NSS has denied any involvement in the incident.
