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Sukiasyan Declares That Their Assets Are Robbed

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  • Sukiasyan Declares That Their Assets Are Robbed

    SUKIASYAN DECLARES THAT THEIR ASSETS ARE ROBBED

    A1+
    [07:19 pm] 06 November, 2008

    "The father, who is unable to defend his son's innocence through the
    state and the son is unable to defend his father's honor are forced
    to find other means," this was a reference from the letter of Albert
    Sukiasyan, 71, who is the father of NA Deputy Khachatur Sukiasyan. The
    latter sent an open letter to the Armenian authorities, the presses,
    accredited embassies in Armenia and international organizations.

    We present the letter in its entirety.

    OPEN LETTER I am 71 years old. I have gone through many troubles
    throughout my life, but I have raised my children to work and do good
    deeds. They have always succeeded through diligence, consolidation
    and fraternity. That is the foundation for the successes in our family
    as a result of which we have created strong businesses and thousands
    of jobs.

    My elder son Khachatur Sukiasyan has been an NA Deputy for three
    conventions and had enough courage to be present during the reception
    of First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan on September 21,
    2007 and declared that he was going to support Levon Ter-Petrosyan's
    nomination in the presidential elections. That was when the authorities
    began a violent, illegal and shameful campaign against our family,
    friends and organizations that cooperate with us.

    I will bring up a couple of examples. In late 2007 taxation service
    officials invaded the Pizza di Roma restaurants, threatened them,
    arrested them and sent the head of the company to jail. Then, they also
    imprisoned the two woman workers of Pizza di Roma to jail; the women
    had already spent two years in the cell (one of them is a widow and
    has two minors). Don't be surprised, but according to the estimations
    of the taxation service, "Pizza di Roma" has made 11,000% profit a
    year and having that amount of profits in the history of economy,
    has not transferred the corresponding taxes to the state budget.

    The next target was the "Bjni" mineral water factory. The taxation
    officials were not able to find anything illegal there and were
    forced to discover "misuse" of natural resources. According to the
    "genius" reasoning of taxing officials, the company had installed the
    water meter in the "wrong" place and had caused severe damage to the
    state budget. I must clarify that the water meter of the factory had
    been installed in 2005 by the Ministry of Environmental Protection,
    after which the ministry had checked-up on the meter and had found
    no violations. Generally, the meter has nothing to do with the
    "Bjni" factory. The meter and the passage for the meter belong to
    the ministry. The taxation service had not registered any violation
    either during the 2006 check-up, but in January 2008, the officials
    came to another conclusion. According to the officials, "Bjni" must
    pay for the mineral water that is no longer of use. But the reality
    is that according to the contract, "Bjni" had to secure the constant
    flow of mineral water and pay only for the mineral water that it had
    received from the ore through the tube. But they demanded that "Bjni"
    pay for the mineral water that was not used as well. After trials and
    tribulations (and we all know how "independent" the judicial system
    of Armenia is), it was decided that "Bjni" would pay 4 billion drams
    (more than 13 million dollars). At the moment, the company has stopped
    production and 480 workers have been left unemployed.

    Next up was the "Pares Armenia" company, which imports the products
    of "Phillip Morris" to Armenia. The customs service made an absurd
    decision to set bans on the import of large amounts of products. "Pares
    Armenia" was forced to appeal to the court. The case was postponed
    for months in the Administrative Court and the people close to the
    authorities (including RA President Serzh Sarkisyan's son-in-law)
    started talks with "Phillip Morris" with the proposal to change the
    partner in Armenia. Thus, they are trying to take away the business
    by using all kinds of methods and opportunities.

    The customs service refused to accept the accounts given by "Adidas"
    to the "Sport Time" company as a basis and added 40% tax on the
    customs price for the company's products, when the addition was the
    maximum of 1% before September 21, 2007. So, this is an attempt to move
    "Sport Time" out of the market just because it belongs to our family.

    The taxation service fined 300 million drams against the
    "Econominkasatsia" company and brought up a case against the head of
    the company, when the RA Central Bank had given official clarifications
    on the issue to the benefit of the company. In addition, the taxation
    service had not presented any demands during the past years.

    I won't bring up any other examples. I will only state that all
    the check-ups, arrests, stop in production and the files for taxing
    reaching up to tens of millions of dollars started after September
    21, 2007.

    As a citizen, I understand all those people, who supported Serzh
    Sarkisyan in the elections. It is the choice and right of any
    person. But if so, what has my son Khachatur done? Is it because he
    stood next to his elder friend? That was my son's political right,
    which Serzh Sarkisyan and any member of his political team must
    respect.

    Today, our country is littered with murders and other crimes. That
    goes to show that there is injustice and people are trying to solve
    issues their own way.

    I find it hard to blame those people. The father, who is unable to
    defend his son's innocence through the state and the son is unable
    to defend his father's honor are forced to find other means.

    There is only one thing that consoles me-the attitude of the
    society. Hundreds and thousands of people are trying to help us with
    their words and actions and are not leaving us behind. For example,
    the more they try to crush "Bjni", the more people buy the products.

    I know very well that some authority figures have the goal of
    redistributing and stealing all that we have worked for. They are doing
    this every day against a family, which has a big reputation in the
    country, as well as abroad and which is a very big taxpayer. If they
    are doing this to us, what can the hundreds of other entrepreneurs
    do? Imagine how many people lost hope in the state and try to solve
    their issues through illegal means.

    It is necessary to have political will to put an end to all this.

    I call on you to persuade the current administration to think not only
    about their personal interests today; otherwise, the hatred will get
    deeper and you can't rule a country with hatred.
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