“Everything that the Governor of Armavir said is not true. He gave false, incorrect answers that are nothing to do with reality,” :awyer Vahan Hovhannisyan said in an interview with Iravaban.net, responding to our publication “People from Armavir cannot get to Yerevan on time for classes or work. The governor addressed the issue”.
Vahan Hovhannisyan is the representative of “Galaktika Trans Service” LLC, which has been carrying out Armavir-Yerevan-Armavir passenger transportation for about 10 years.
“Since 2018, the legal activity of that company has been obstructed by “Friends Trans” LLC, which is sponsored by the highest echelons of the government. Moreover, they started interfering illegally. In other words, 4-7-seater vehicles were removed from the line by the “Friends Trans” Company, which began to carry out these passenger transportations without any permission, without any license, due to which they created obvious, non-competitive conditions for the legal passenger carrier, because they do not pay taxes and duties. In this regard, “Galaktika Trans Service” LLC also resorted to extreme measures, for example, they blocked the road, they held a protest in front of the Government, but it was not listened to,” Vahan Hovhannisyan noted.
The Lawyer also informed that they have submitted crime reports in connection with alleged crimes committed by “Friends Trans” LLC against “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC.
“At the moment, 2 criminal proceedings have been initiated and are being examined, one in the Investigative Committee, the other in the Anti-Corruption Committee. The proceedings examined in the Investigative Committee refer to “Friends Trans” LLC engaging in illegal business activities, that is, servicing the Armavir-Yerevan-Armavir line without a license is considered an illegal business activity. The proceedings have been under investigation for about a year, literally no action has been taken in the proceedings. The purpose of initiating proceedings is to prevent and disrupt the crime, but after initiating proceedings, the crime continues to be committed. The activity of “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC has been completely stopped since 23 January. The reason for the termination is formal violations, for example, the company does not drive its cars from the “Kilikia” bus station, but it does it from another place. But no one is interested: well, how did it happen that the company left the “Cilicia” bus station? It came out because this “Friends Trans” LLC did everything to make the legal carrier leave its stop and go to another place. It has no chance to stop in “Cilicia” because apparently crimes are committed against drivers there. Drivers do not want to report the crime out of fear,” he said.
Vahan Hovhannisyan said that according to his client, the activity of “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC was stopped by the Minister of Territorial Management and Infrastructures, specifically by Deputy Minister Armen Simonyan, who supervises the given sector.
“The Governor of Armavir mentioned that a competition will be organized in the near future. False, because a tender was announced about two years ago, two companies “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC and “Friends Trans” LLC participated. The rolling stock of “Friends Trans” LLC did not meet the requirements and conditions of the tender at all. After announcing the tender, Armen Simonyan tried to change the rules and conditions of the tender so that “Friends Trans” could participate in the tender, but even in that case it was not possible for that company to win. ” Galaxy Trans Service” LLC appealed to the court, won in the Court of General Jurisdiction, was recognized as the winner of the tender, after which an appeal was filed with the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal canceled the court act at the moment, but “Galaxy Trans Service” filed an Appeal complaint, until the answer to the Cassation Complaint is received, until a final procedural act is made in this case, it is not possible to announce a new tender, and the examination of the case in the Court of Cassation may take years,” the lawyer said.
Vahan Hovhannisyan noted that according to the law, until a new tender is announced, the state is obliged to grant permission to the last winner of the tender every six months to continue that activity.
“We have submitted a crime report to the Anti-Corruption Committee for violating competition rules and public bidding, and Deputy Minister Armen Simonyan has been named as the main acting person. At the moment, proceedings have been initiated in the Anti-Corruption Committee, and again there is a total inactivity. For a year, we have been saying: let’s confront the director of “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC with Armen Simonyan, because something big will come out of it. Until now, the investigator, , does not carry out this confrontation without any justification. Ms. Shushanik has evidence that the Deputy Minister said in his office that “Galaxy Trans Service” LLC will not serve that line as long as he holds that position,” the Lawyer said.
Regarding the problem, Iravaban.net also tried to talk with the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Armen Simonyan. However, Ms Ruzanna Ayvazyan, Head of the Motor Transport Policy Department of the Ministry, answered our questions.
She noted that a competition was held in 2021, there was no winner in the Armavir region, and then the decision of the Ministry was appealed by the two organizations participating in the competition. “Until today, the court proceedings have not ended. After completion, we can announce a new tender and accordingly we will have a single operator that will properly serve the routes of the Armavir region. Now we have no right to announce a new tender. We hope to be able to announce it this year, but I cannot make any predictions about the processes.”
She noted that there is no regular passenger transportation in the Republic of Armenia with 5-7 seat cars. “It is clearly defined that regular passenger transportation should be carried out by buses, i.e. vehicles with more than 9 seats. Maybe taxi services provide transportation.”
When asked whether the Ministry was interested in who and how they carry out passenger transportation on the Armavir-Yerevan-Armavir route, Ruzanna Ayvazyan said that elections for a single operator were not organized in other marzes of the Republic either. “We have quite a large number of settlements that do not have transport services. At the moment, efforts are being made to find the optimal option for the implementation of the unified route transport and to announce the tenders. It is not only Armavir marz that is a major problem for the Ministry, but it is to organize the transport service of all marzes.”
Ruzanna Ayvazyan did not comment on the question raised by Lawyer Vahan Hovhannisyan that “Friends Trans” LLC is sponsored by Deputy Minister Armen Simonyan. “I have no comment.”
Iravaban.net inquired from the Anti-Corruption Committte about the current stage of the criminal proceedings initiated by the Committee regarding Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Armen Simonyan. “In this case, the preliminary investigation continues, there are no accused persons. Armen Simonyan also does not have the status of an accused in any proceedings in our entity.”
Hasmik Sargsyan
