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MP Says Customs Office Inflicts Millions Of Losses On State Budget

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  • MP Says Customs Office Inflicts Millions Of Losses On State Budget

    MP SAYS CUSTOMS OFFICE INFLICTS MILLIONS OF LOSSES ON STATE BUDGET

    Lragir.am
    06 April 06

    "The customs committee is an organization which permanently violates
    the law. It is common knowledge that violation of the law is a
    crime. Hence, the head of the customs committee is an offender,"
    states MP Tatul Manaseryan.

    To make this statement he gave a press conference April 6, and he also
    offered reasons for his statement. The Member of Parliament assures
    that certain importers of certain products are privileges for the head
    of the Customs Committee. "Certain importers pay only half of customs
    duties, others do not pay anything," says Tatul Manaseryan. He made
    an inquiry for data on payment of customs duties for some products
    imported to Armenia. On April 6 the Customs Committee was to answer,
    but failed to.

    "Only in import of coffee the illegal actions of the customs inflict
    losses of 10 million dollars annually on the state budget.

    For instance, Royal Armenia pays 1.8 dollar, and other 9 companies
    importing coffee of the same quality and origin pay twice as less. I
    am not asking why Royal Armenia pays more. I am asking why the others
    pay less," says Tatul Manaseryan.

    The center of the next statements against the head of the Customs
    Committee was again Royal Armenia. According to him, the head of the
    Customs Committee thus takes revenge for he was not offered a bribe.

    "They demanded a bribe from the president of the company Gagik
    Hakobyan, and he refused to bribe the customs committee. Now the
    head of the customs committee Armen Avetisyan takes revenge," says
    the member of parliament.

    According to him, Armen Avetisyan's revenge is taken by the National
    Security Service, and the president of Royal Armenia Gagik Hakobyan
    and manager Aram Ghazaryan are illegally kept in custody for six
    months now. "The decision on the custody was prolonged three times for
    groundless reasons. No information can be obtained, it is impossible
    to visit them. The audit of the company's record revealed nothing. The
    head of the customs committee organized a false attempt against his
    life to charge Gagik Hakobyan but there was no evidence. The case
    was dismissed," said Tatul Manaseryan.

    He said under the court ruling, the customs committee was to pay a fine
    to Royal Armenia but it did not. He has applied to the Supervision
    Service of the President, the Audit Chamber of the National Assembly
    and the ombudsman, and on April 6 he will send the materials to the
    Head Public Prosecutor.

    Besides coffee and the example of Royal Armenia Tatul Manaseryan
    balances his stricture with other examples. Particularly, he says,
    according to the data of the customs committee, presently petrol
    imported to Armenia I is two times less than in 1998 and 1999.

    "Whereas the import of cars has doubled, and the petrol supplied for
    the official car pool on the state budget has doubled against the
    previous years," says the MP.

    According to him, the illegal import of petrol inflicts losses of
    55 million dollars on the budget of Armenia. And the total of losses
    that the budget of Armenia annually suffers is equal to 1.5 per cent
    of the GDP. "I call the Office of Public Prosecutor to focus attention
    on this," says the member of parliament, although he is not convinced
    that the Office of Public Prosecutor will do.

    He presents a fact from the World Bank report that 46 drams out of
    100 drams paid to the Customs Committee for import and export is
    bribe. He urged the law enforcement bodies to accuse the experts of
    the World Bank of slander against the state governmental body if their
    report does not correspond to the reality. And if it does correspond
    to the reality, let them accuse the head of the customs committee,
    says Tatul Manaseryan.
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