The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has suspended, with immediate effect, its principal conductor Maestro Sergey Smbatyan, following reports of his and others’ arrest, in connection to large-scale fraud in Armenia.
A statement by the MPO on Sunday said that it is suspending its working relationship with Smbatyan with immediate effect, ‘without entering into the merits of the case, and without any prejudice to anything or anyone.’
According to Armenian media MassisPost, Smbatyan and his father Armen Smbatyan, the former ambassador of Armenia to Israel, were arrested on Saturday over real estate fraud that allegedly cost the state one billion Armenian dram, roughly €2.4 million, and that a 300-square-meter square plot of Yerevan Tchaikovsky Music School in the capital was stolen.
The Armenian government had in 2012 granted a valuable central area to the Sochocenter company, allegedly owned by the Smbatyan family, to construct a multi-functional complex called “Book World,” it read.
The company instead initiated the construction of a 17-story business centre, with Smbatyan’s father reportedly having convinced a relative to establish the company on behalf of Sergey Smbatyan, keeping his name separate from the business, the report continued.
Smbatyan was appointed as Principal Conductor at the MPO on 1 January 2022.
“The MPO is following the case very closely to ascertain the facts. A final decision in respect of this case will be taken once the relevant facts and circumstances are ascertained,” the MPO statement read.