ArmInfo.Gurgen Khachatryan, co-founder of Galaxy Group, chairman of the board of directors at Ucom, issued a statement today accusing senior officials of trying to force the owners to alienate the company. ArmInfo presents the main points of the letter without changing its style.
The letter, in particular, reads that < lately, at the level of senior officials of the country, directly and indirectly (including during meetings) I was demanded to alienate Ucom based on an unfavorable offer, accompanied by public pressure. In addition to this, the demand for the alienation of the leading Armenian IT company IUnetworks was also placed on. Unlawful seizure of all property, including shares of companies, has become part of a chain of illegal actions. Threats were also voiced to create an uncontrolled situation in companies, as a result of which, they said, we would have to agree to a sale, and even at the lowest price>.
He also noted that high level officials <in the event of our disagreement clearly stated that in the short term they would accuse me of committing a particularly serious crime and arrest me. Similar actions will also be applied to my brother, other family members, relatives, and other close associates>. The statement also reads that "since the legal instruments for protection within the country have been exhausted, we are forced to make this process public and turn to international structures. Based on the circumstances, today we only announce one incident, but you should know that the legal and moral boundaries have been crossed, all this has been recorded and we will publish all this in the future>. Ucom owners called on ambassadors conducting diplomatic missions in the Republic of Armenia, local and international business associations, ombudsman and human rights organizations to monitor this process and share their assessments. <We demand an immediate cessation of lawlessness and inform that we will not allow the pressure, provocation and illegal use of certain state levers to affect us. I am sure that we rely on law and morality, and we will not allow the 12-year-old institutional structure, with its social capital and human fates to be turned into a bargaining chip even under the most serious pressure. Ucom is not for sale, and our dignity is not in doubt>. The authors of the letter recall that the Galaxy Group of Companies (which includes Ucom) was founded in 1999 by Gurgen, Artyom and Aram Khachatryans. <Over the 20 years of its activity, the Group of Companies was able to become one of the best employers in Armenia, with about 3,000 highly paid employees. The activities of the group of companies also make a significant contribution to the country's GDP, and the average monthly salary of employees in 2018 amounted to 315,000 AMD, in 2019 reaching 370,000 AMD. Galaxy Group of Companies through its services is included in every third household in Armenia. In addition, Galaxy is one of the largest taxpayers in Armenia, with annual tax payments of 13-15 billion AMD>.
It should be noted that the ultimate beneficiary of Ucom is the family of the former super-minister - Minister of Finance and State Revenues Gagik Khachatryan. Today, Gagik Khachatryan himself, as well as his sons and nephew (owners of Galaxy) are accused of embezzlement on an especially large scale and abuse of official powers. Gagik Khachatryan has been charged under part 2 of article 308 of the RA Criminal Code (misappropriation or embezzlement of funds on an especially large scale) and part 2 of article 308 of the RA Criminal Code (abuse of official authority entailing grave consequences through negligence). Being a government official all his life, Khachatryan became one of the richest people in the country. Ucom enjoyed enormous informal privileges before the Velvet Revolution and, for all these years, despite operating profit, worked with huge balance sheet losses and, as a result, did not pay income taxes. Last month, a conflict broke out between the main owners of Ucom and its creators, the Yesayan brothers, who owned a 5.94% stake in the company. Yesayans offered majorities 34 billion AMD for the full package of the company, but the latter refused the deal. It is not clear whether this proposal was in favor of specific individuals, about which Khachatryans write in their statement without giving names.
It should be noted that at the beginning of the year, the start of consideration of the transaction on the purchase of another major telecommunications operator of the country <Beeline - Armenia>, owned by the VEON group of companies, was announced. Ucom claims to be the buyer. The application is under consideration by the antitrust authority of Armenia. It is possible that the current situation around Ucom is underlying in the context of this announced deal. But at the same time, according to ArmInfo experts, the current situation should be considered in the context of the fight against corruption and the return of colossal funds plundered by the former elite of Armenia, the obvious and one of the main representatives of which is Gagik Khachatryan. As one would expect, the head of the press service of the Prime Minister of Armenia Mane Gevorgyan reacted to the accusatory statement of Ucom leaders in the person of Khachatryans. According to the statement, according to the data of the Government of Armenia, the former Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia Gagik Khachatryan and his sons led the corrupt mafia system operating in Armenia for many years, as a result of which they accumulated illegal funds of several hundred million dollars.
Gevorgyan notes that the family of Gagik Khachatryan, in the course of contacts with various officials of Armenia and on its own initiative, expressed readiness to return the loot and to restore the damage caused to the state. This, she said, was done in response to the prime minister's remarks that the looted by corrupt officials, including the former head of the SRC, should be returned to the state and people to the last penny.
<As for UCOM, the alienation of its shares under the legislation of the Republic of Armenia is possible only with the consent of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. After a dispute arose between the shareholders of the company and the issue of changing the composition of shareholders appeared on the agenda, the position of the government was that the sale of shares of Khachatryans would be possible only if the entire amount received for this sale was transferred to the state budget Armenia. This approach is relevant today, and applies to any property of illegal origin.
According to the position of the Prime Minister, if it turns out that some officials tried to get personal benefits from this process, they will have to answer before the law in the same way as representatives of the mafia system of Khachatryans. The Prime Minister several times, including publicly, expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that criminal cases involving well-known corrupt officials do not have the expected public effectiveness. The Prime Minister patiently expects quick and concrete results from the law enforcement system of Armenia. The government has information that the son-in- law of the former president of the RA Serzh Sargsyan, Mikael Minasyan, also has a share in UCOM, and he is the de jure owner of part of the shares of Khachatryans. The Prime Minister expects that law enforcement agencies will properly study the corruption system led by Serzh Sargsyan's family, which also resulted in the acquisition of shares in various successful companies, " Gevorgyan said. To recall, the son-in-law of former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan - Mikael Minasyan, who previously held the post of Armenian Ambassador to the Vatican, was brought in as a defendant in a criminal case on illicit enrichment, money laundering and the inclusion of false data in the income statement.
