ARMENIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT OF ITS DIPLOMATS IN CAR FRAUD IN ARGENTINA
ARMENPRESS
Jan 24, 2008
YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign ministry has denied
today a media report claiming that Armenian diplomats in Argentina
were involved in illegal car imports.
The denial came in response to a news report by German DAP news agency
which said citing from an Argentinean daily Clarin that diplomats from
more than 30 countries, including Armenia were e under investigation
in Argentina for alleged involvement in illegal car imports.
Argentine media reported Wednesday that from 2004 to 2007, Argentine
foreign ministry officials allegedly allowed the entrance of cars for
diplomats’ use, tax-free, for a fee worth some 50 per cent of their
market value. Soon afterwards, the vehicles were sold to locals.
‘Clarin’ daily said that diplomats from the United States, Canada,
Cuba, Guatemala, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia
are reportedly involved in the case, as are others from Spain,
Germany, Italy, Greece, Romania, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia,
Hungary, Switzerland, the Philippines, France, Malta and multilateral
organizations like UNICEF and the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) were involved in car fraud.
Also cited were diplomats from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia,
Angola, Congo, Morocco, Nigeria, India, Taiwan and South Korea, among
others. According to the daily Clarin, the diplomats’ involvement in
the scam will be evaluated "case by case."
Argentine officials who are allegedly directly responsible for the
maneuver will also be subjected to investigation.
It said the internal audit showed that 18 per cent of the about 100
dubious vehicles were not even registered for diplomatic license
plates, and the authorities suspect they were sold directly.
Vladimir Karapetian, spokesman for the Armenian foreign ministry, said
the Armenian embassy in Buenos Aires has two vehicles, a Honda Accord
that was donated to the embassy in 2006 by a local Armenian benefactor
Eduardo Seferian and a Ford Focus that was purchased in 2007.
The ministry’s spokesman drew attention to the fact that an influential
Argentinean daily ‘La Nacion’ also had a story about the alleged car
fraud but it did not list the Armenian embassy. He added that the
Armenian embassy sent a letter to ‘Clarin’ demanding that it refutes
Armenian diplomats’ involved in the car fraud allegations.