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Aug 27 2011
Flashy number sign of `cool boy' for Armenian oligarchs - WikiLeaks
August 27, 2011 | 22:04
YEREVAN. - Sometimes for pure vanity, sometimes as a charm against
traffic police, Armenia's residents are picking their own license
plate numbers and paying handsomely for them, reads the U.S. Embassy
Yerevan cable published on the WikiLeaks website.
Flashy number plates have become de rigueur for Yerevan's flashy cars,
and identify relatives and close associates of Armenia's tycoons. Even
the middle classes cannot resist the temptation to pick their own
lucky numbers. As a result, custom license plates have become a steady
source of informal income for Armenia's traffic police.
In many cases oligarchs have purchased exclusively use of all the
double-zero plates available with their chosen number for the cars of
their family, staff and friends.
The oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, owner of Yerevan's first Hummer and
Rolls Royce, has de facto exclusive rights to the various
possibilities of using 08 XX 008. Samvel Aleksanian has preserved 06
XX 006, and Ruben Hayrapetyan 05 XX 005.
Besides the benefits of vanity and prestige, lucky number plates bring
immunity from harassment by the traffic police. Special plates signify
a special relationship.
Even those Armenians who are unwilling to pay for custom license
numbers are surprisingly willing to accept the practice as legitimate.
It is not perceived as real corruption, as anyone can receive a normal
(random) license plate. All private numbers have the same legal
status. Perhaps Armenians are so keen to accept the system because it
simply adds clarity to familiar systems of nepotism and favoritism. At
least you always know who is cutting in front of you, reads the cable.
Aug 27 2011
Flashy number sign of `cool boy' for Armenian oligarchs - WikiLeaks
August 27, 2011 | 22:04
YEREVAN. - Sometimes for pure vanity, sometimes as a charm against
traffic police, Armenia's residents are picking their own license
plate numbers and paying handsomely for them, reads the U.S. Embassy
Yerevan cable published on the WikiLeaks website.
Flashy number plates have become de rigueur for Yerevan's flashy cars,
and identify relatives and close associates of Armenia's tycoons. Even
the middle classes cannot resist the temptation to pick their own
lucky numbers. As a result, custom license plates have become a steady
source of informal income for Armenia's traffic police.
In many cases oligarchs have purchased exclusively use of all the
double-zero plates available with their chosen number for the cars of
their family, staff and friends.
The oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, owner of Yerevan's first Hummer and
Rolls Royce, has de facto exclusive rights to the various
possibilities of using 08 XX 008. Samvel Aleksanian has preserved 06
XX 006, and Ruben Hayrapetyan 05 XX 005.
Besides the benefits of vanity and prestige, lucky number plates bring
immunity from harassment by the traffic police. Special plates signify
a special relationship.
Even those Armenians who are unwilling to pay for custom license
numbers are surprisingly willing to accept the practice as legitimate.
It is not perceived as real corruption, as anyone can receive a normal
(random) license plate. All private numbers have the same legal
status. Perhaps Armenians are so keen to accept the system because it
simply adds clarity to familiar systems of nepotism and favoritism. At
least you always know who is cutting in front of you, reads the cable.