ARMENIAN PM VOWS TO REOPEN BJNI WATER COMPANY

892_3/26/2009_1Armenian
Thursday March 26, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan Thursday assured
hundreds of employees of an Armenian mineral water company, effectively
shut down by his government last fall, that they will return to work
before long.

The Bjni plant located in Charentsavan, an unemployment stricken town
40 kilometers north of Yerevan, was raided by security officials
and put up for sale in October after its opposition-linked owners’
refusal to pay 5.2 billion drams ($14 million) in fines controversially
imposed by tax authorities. Its more than 400 employees have been
out of work since then.

Many of them hoped that Bjni would be reopened soon when it was
auctioned off for 4.44 billion drams last month. But last week,
Armenia’s Administrative Court declared the auction null and void,
saying that the authorities cannot forcibly sell the company unless
it is declared bankrupt by another court.

"We know than there is concern in the region about the future of the
Bjni plant," Sargsyan said at a meeting of his cabinet held in the
nearby Aghveran resort. "In particular, there have been rumors that
the plant will be partitioned or split up. I want to dispel those
concerns and fears. There will be no such thing."

"The plant will operate in its integrity, and the ongoing judicial
processes do not mean that it will be sold off in parts," said the
prime minister. "We will see to it that this process is over as soon
as possible and that the plant works again."

"What is more, I think there are approaches that will contribute
to an increase, rather than a decrease, in jobs," Sargsyan added
without elaborating. Nor did he specify the authorities’ further
steps in their tax dispute with Khachatur Sukiasian, a millionaire
businessman and parliament deputy who has owned Bjni until now.

Bjni and several other companies making up Khachatur Sukiasian’s
SIL Concern group were inspected by tax officials and accused of
large-scale tax evasion shortly after the tycoon voiced support in
September 2007 for former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s bid to
return to power. Sukiasian has dismissed the charges as baseless and
politically motivated.

He was among several Ter-Petrosian associates who went into hiding to
escape arrest following the February 2008 presidential election. Their
whereabouts remain unknown.