SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY DOES NOT COMMENT ON ACCUSATIONS OF IMPURITY AND APPLICATION OF ‘KICKBACK SCHEMES’
ArmInfo
2008-11-19 18:30:00
ArmInfo. The South Caucasus Railway (SCR) CJSC doesn’t comment on
the Armenian pro-power newspaper ‘Hayots Ashkhar"s accusations
of application of "kickback schemes" and inappropriate use of
investments. ArmInfo’s request to give comments on these serious
accusations has remained without response for several days.
To note, in a series of articles ‘Hayots Ashkhar’ newspaper actually
accused SCR, which is the 100% branch of the Russian Railway (RR)
OJSC, of impurity.
On the first broadside of the Nov 11 issue, the newspaper writes
that a total of $1,8 mln were spent on the repair of an Armenian
electric locomotive in Georgia. This value is comparable with that of
repair of a plane. The article says that experts estimate the repair
of the electric locomotive at $200 thsd. The author of the article
concludes that the company’s investments are puffed up, and to all
appearances, the "kickback" mechanism operates here. The newspaper
blames the company for the fact that its leadership acquired dozens
of expensive flats and cars in Yerevan, and the investments in the
repair and modernization of the railway infrastructure and the movable
equipment are nothing but money laundering.
In the Nov 12 issue the same newspaper blames the SCR leadership for
the fact that the company has created some affiliated intermediary
organization "South Caucasus company on transport deliveries" and calls
on its clients to make use of its services while the company itself
intentionally delays the carriages of transport companies’ cargoes.
In fact, some large economic entities are extremely discontent with
the railroaders’ activity, and in this connection, the Commission for
Protection of Economic Competition started administrative procedure
against SCR.