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SHADY DEAL? MAYOR USES MUNICIPAL BUILDING AS COLLATERAL FOR $10,000 BANK LOAN
Grisha Balasanyan
hetq
12:50, February 27, 2012
Last October, Armavair Regional Administrator Ashot Ghahramanyan
bestowed Mrgashat village Mayor Gevorg Danielyan with a letter of
commendation for renovating the St. Astvatzatzin Church.
What Ghahramanyan still doesn't know is that Mayor Danielyan took
out a $10,000 bank loan and used the village municipal building as
collateral. The mayor signed off on the bank loan without the approval
of the municipal council.
When I spoke to Mayor Danielyan he brushed off any inference of
wrongdoing. He refused to be recorded and would only say that the loan
was for work on the church and that a part of the loan was already
paid off.
"Last year we spent 68 million AMD ($175,000) on renovating the
church. The money was from the village budget. It was an old church
in terrible condition. What's the big fuss?"
Our sources in Mrgashat told us that last year the mayor took 18
hectares of land from the uncultivated land from the villagers and
used it to plant cotton for himself. The loan, they claim, was for
this purpose.
They also state that the church wasn't renovated with municipal funds
but by small and large donations made by the residents themselves
and that Sargis Khlghatyan, brother of the Mayor of Armavir, donated
money to repair the church roof. Another benefactor was MP Nahapet
Gevorgyan who was bestowed the title of honorary Mgrashat citizen by
the village council in gratitude.
Many in the village were also unaware that the municipal building had
been used as collateral for a bank loan. There's no bulletin board in
the office and no information about municipal dealings or budgetary
matters gets posted.
"There was notice board outside but some village kids tore it down.
I'll have a new one installed in a few days," Mayor Danielyan promised.
When we asked Regional Administrator Ghahramanyan if he knew of other
municipal property in Armavir that had been used as bank collateral,
he said there wasn't any on file.
So it would appear that Mayor Danielyan conducted the loan transaction
on the "sly" and that it was most probably for personal rather than
village related reasons.
In his defense, Mayor Danielyan boasted that in the eleven years
he's served as village mayor, he's built a club, a hospital and
a kindergarten.
He says that the village roads and one of the school annexes are in
need of repair and that work will begin this year. He couldn't tell
me what particular project would encompass such endeavours.
"Project? There are many projects out there," was his response.
He also pointed to municipal funding for a football team and dance,
puppet and painting clubs.
Mayor Danielyan says he pays particular attention to the senior
citizens in the village. He was even to tell me the exact number of
grandfathers and grandmothers; 350 and 420.
He says the municipality pays for an annual trip that takes them to
Lake Sevan.
"This year, we'll go somewhere different for the summer. But we'll
take them separately so as not to quarrel," Mayor Danielyan joked.
He said that starting this year, the municipality would send a wreath
of flowers to burial services whenever someone in the village passes
away.
Every year, 3-4 million of the village's 90 million AMD budget is
spent of social services, Danielyan added.
The mayor told me that 1.2 kilometres of village streets will get
lighting installed and that the State Water Resources Committee has
launched a tender for the repair of 7.5 kilometres of irrigation pipes.
Grisha Balasanyan
hetq
12:50, February 27, 2012
Last October, Armavair Regional Administrator Ashot Ghahramanyan
bestowed Mrgashat village Mayor Gevorg Danielyan with a letter of
commendation for renovating the St. Astvatzatzin Church.
What Ghahramanyan still doesn't know is that Mayor Danielyan took
out a $10,000 bank loan and used the village municipal building as
collateral. The mayor signed off on the bank loan without the approval
of the municipal council.
When I spoke to Mayor Danielyan he brushed off any inference of
wrongdoing. He refused to be recorded and would only say that the loan
was for work on the church and that a part of the loan was already
paid off.
"Last year we spent 68 million AMD ($175,000) on renovating the
church. The money was from the village budget. It was an old church
in terrible condition. What's the big fuss?"
Our sources in Mrgashat told us that last year the mayor took 18
hectares of land from the uncultivated land from the villagers and
used it to plant cotton for himself. The loan, they claim, was for
this purpose.
They also state that the church wasn't renovated with municipal funds
but by small and large donations made by the residents themselves
and that Sargis Khlghatyan, brother of the Mayor of Armavir, donated
money to repair the church roof. Another benefactor was MP Nahapet
Gevorgyan who was bestowed the title of honorary Mgrashat citizen by
the village council in gratitude.
Many in the village were also unaware that the municipal building had
been used as collateral for a bank loan. There's no bulletin board in
the office and no information about municipal dealings or budgetary
matters gets posted.
"There was notice board outside but some village kids tore it down.
I'll have a new one installed in a few days," Mayor Danielyan promised.
When we asked Regional Administrator Ghahramanyan if he knew of other
municipal property in Armavir that had been used as bank collateral,
he said there wasn't any on file.
So it would appear that Mayor Danielyan conducted the loan transaction
on the "sly" and that it was most probably for personal rather than
village related reasons.
In his defense, Mayor Danielyan boasted that in the eleven years
he's served as village mayor, he's built a club, a hospital and
a kindergarten.
He says that the village roads and one of the school annexes are in
need of repair and that work will begin this year. He couldn't tell
me what particular project would encompass such endeavours.
"Project? There are many projects out there," was his response.
He also pointed to municipal funding for a football team and dance,
puppet and painting clubs.
Mayor Danielyan says he pays particular attention to the senior
citizens in the village. He was even to tell me the exact number of
grandfathers and grandmothers; 350 and 420.
He says the municipality pays for an annual trip that takes them to
Lake Sevan.
"This year, we'll go somewhere different for the summer. But we'll
take them separately so as not to quarrel," Mayor Danielyan joked.
He said that starting this year, the municipality would send a wreath
of flowers to burial services whenever someone in the village passes
away.
Every year, 3-4 million of the village's 90 million AMD budget is
spent of social services, Danielyan added.
The mayor told me that 1.2 kilometres of village streets will get
lighting installed and that the State Water Resources Committee has
launched a tender for the repair of 7.5 kilometres of irrigation pipes.