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| 16:09:57 | 14-10-2005 | Economy |

CUSTOM’S OFFICE AVOIDING SCANDAL

Today advocate of the «Royal-Armenia» LTD Gevorg Minasyan rendered a press
conference about the October 11 arrest of the Company head Gagik Hakobyan
and deputy head Aram Ghazaryan `for the violations of customs rules’.

According to the advocate, the evidence of the ex-supplier of the company
American `Federal Investment Group’ about the forgery of invoice served as
ground for the arrest. Gevorg Minasyan considers the evidence false as
according to him the ex-supplier is simply angry for losing his market where
he could sell a thousand tons of coffee.

`We did we have to forge it if anyway we were to pay the tax according to
previously fixed prices?’, Gevorg Minasyan wonders.

But the true reason for the arrest, according to the advocate, is the court
session fixed for October 17. The Economic Court was to continue to hear the
case of `Royal Armenia’. Let us remind you that the company demanded `to
announce the tax the Customs Office fixed for the 14 types of goods imported
invalid and to return the sum of about 1 billion 500 million AMD’.

If the court upheld the claim, according to the advocate, the Custom’s
Office would be disgraced. And the arrest, according to Mr. Minasyan, is a
good reason to offer to join the two cases `thus saving the Office of
disgrace’.