HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: CHSHMARITYAN’S PRESENCE MERE PROMOTION OF CORRUPTION
Tert.am
25.05.11
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan paid a visit yesterday to
the Elbat Company that manufactures batteries and, among others, was
greeted by former Miinister of Trade and Industry Karen Chshmarityan,
who currently is a parliament member.
“This qualifies state-sponsored promotion of corruption,” the
paper says and explains: the company operates inside the Electron
Factory, a Soviet-era factory privatized in 2005, and according to
media reports, Chshmarityan, who then was the minister of trade and
industry, acquired a 40 percent stake in the company. Currently,
he has a 24-percent stake in Elbat.
Besides, the Cooper and Molybdenum Company, one of Armenia’s giants,
was also privatized when Chshmarityan was a minister.
Now, the Cooper and Molybdenum Company owns 51 percent of the Elbat,
the paper says.