The Tatev Revival Project is a US$50 million venture supported by Russian investment banker Ruben Vardanyan to reconstruct a 9th century monastery in Armenia, the country of his birth, and to develop the surrounding community.
The revival of the monastery, which organizers describe as one of the “prominent religious, cultural and enlightenment centers of medieval Armenia,” was spearheaded by the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA). The program was implemented as a public-private partnership in cooperation with Armenian Government and Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend Foundation (RVVZ).
The IDeA Foundation, which has been overseeing the project, says its intent is to spur economic growth in southern Armenia by improving infrastructure, creating a national park to lure tourists, and reestablishing the monastery’s educational legacy.
Both the monastery project and the NCFA received money through the Troika Laundromat.
Between 2010 and 2011, the Tatev Revival Project received a total of $100,000 from Quantus Division Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company at the Laundromat’s core.
Quantus and another core Laundromat company, Gotland Industrial Inc., also paid the NCFA $95,550 for membership fees, professional services, and expenses.
It’s not clear where the money originated because so many people and companies wired money through Quantus, one of three main nodes of the Troika Laundromat.
There is no evidence that the contributions were illegal in any way or that the Tatev project did anything wrong by accepting the money.
