Author: Kanayan Tamar

The Sunday Independent (South Africa)
June 29, 2014

Tycoon faces auction of assets after mining deal goes sour

by LOYISO SIDIMBA

RECLUSIVE mogul Mzi Khumalo faces yet another attempt to auction his
prized local assets following the South Gauteng High Court’s dismissal
of his bid to appeal a judgment ordering him to pay his Lebanese
partner, Pierre Fattouch, more than R53 million.

Last month, Judge Sherise Weiner ordered Khumalo to pay Fattouch for a
botched sale of shares and a mining deal in Armenia.

Khumalo’s debt may top R77m, as he was also ordered to pay 9 percent
annual interest from April 2009 until the date of the final payment,
as well as pay Fattouch’s legal costs, according to the judgment.

Last Thursday, Weiner dismissed Khumalo’s application for leave to
appeal with costs, according to |Fattouch’s South African lawyer,
Pumzo Mbana.

Mbana said Khumalo had no reasonable prospects of success on appeal as
no other court could come to a conclusion different from that in Judge
Weiner’s ruling last month.

“We have prepared a writ of execution in the interim, claiming the
judgment debt.

“The sheriff will be executing the writ in due course,” said Mbana.

Khumalo’s latest money woes follow another close shave with one of his
creditors, RMB Private Bank, which he and his Mzi Khumalo Family Trust
owe for bond repayments.

In April, the scheduled auction of his mansion in Zimbali in
KwaZulu-Natal, which has nine reception areas, seven bedrooms, five
bathrooms and five garages, was halted after he made arrangements to
settle his debt.

Khumalo has made part of the payments, which stood at about R17m when
the matter was finalised in the South Gauteng High Court in July 2012.
RMB Private Bank previously told The Sunday Independent that Khumalo
still owed millions |but declined to reveal the exact amount, saying
“it’s a privileged amount”.

In his application for leave to appeal the high court’s judgment in
Fattouch’s claim, Khumalo said Judge Weiner erred both in fact and in
law by failing to take into account sufficiently that the matter dealt
with a transaction or act relating to the purchase of a mine.

Khumalo added that Judge Weiner incorrectly interpreted the Protection
of Businesses Act by failing to differentiate between the purchase and
sale of a mine, which is a transaction and/or act relating to the
purchase and sale of raw materials and is connected with mining,
production, importation, exportation, refinement, possession, use or
sale of or ownership in matter or material.

The ex-Umkhonto weSizwe operative argued that the Protection of
Businesses Act was not applicable to an arbitral award arising from a
dispute regarding the sale of shares, notwithstanding that such shares
are in a mining company.

Khumalo accused Weiner of misinterpreting the Protection of Businesses Act.

He said Weiner should not have heard Fattouch’s application as he
failed to apply to Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene for permission to
enforce foreign arbitration awards as required by the Protection of
Businesses Act.

Last month, The Sunday Independent reported that Fattouch approached
South African courts in 2012 after Khumalo failed to pay.

The controversial businessman had between April and September 2009 to
pay Fattouch.

Khumalo’s debt followed a written sale of shares agreement with
Fattouch in May 2006 through his (Khumalo’s) Rosario International
Investments.

He had also reached an oral agreement for Fattouch not to proceed with
litigation until he (Fattouch) had obtained two lucrative mining
licences in Armenia.

Fattouch won during arbitration in France and applied to the South
Gauteng High Court to have the award made an order of the court.

According to court papers, Fattouch and Khumalo agreed in March 2009
for Khumalo to pay $5m in four instalments of $1.25m for the licences.

Khumalo’s Metallon Gold, now Zimbabwe’s largest gold miner, is
responsible for about 50 percent of that country’s total production of
the precious metal and has “greater potential”, according to the
European Gold Centre.

In its listing statement at the Stock Exchange of Mauritius in March,
Botswana-owned Shumba Coal revealed that it had invested $50m (about
R526m) in one of Metallon Gold’s mines in Zimbabwe.

Metallon Gold has five mines in Zimbabwe – Redwing, How, Shamva,
Mozowe and Acturas.

Over 200 people considered missing in Armenia as a result of Karabakh conflict

June 29, 2014 | 12:03

YEREVAN. – Over 200 people are considered missing in Armenia as a
result of Karabakh conflict, head of Commission on Prisoners of War,
Hostages and Missing Persons Armen Kaprielyan toldArmenian
News-NEWS.am.

He recalled that at different times, the data on location of some of
the missing was obtained. The list currently includes 94 families.
Overall, around thousand people are missing from Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh.

At the same time the head of working group noted that the Azerbaijani
side refused to cooperate on the search for missing persons, ignoring
all efforts of the Armenian side.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

JOURNAL LA PROVENCE
Juifs,musulmans, catholiques, Arméniens : l’appel de Marseille

Signé notamment par Michèle Teboul, présidente du Crif Marseille
Provence ; Mohammed Moussaoui, président d’honneur du Conseil régional
du culte musulman (CRCM) et président de l’Union des mosquées de
France ; le père Lorenzato, délégué au judaïsme près de l’archevêque ;
Khalid Belkadir, président régional du CRCM ; Hassen Chalgoumi, imam
de la mosquée de Drancy ; Pascal Chamassian, secrétaire national du
Conseil de coordination des organisations arméniennes de France (CCAF)
; Jacques Donabédian, président du CCAF Marseille ; Robert Kaufman,
président de l’Amitié Judéo-Chrétienne ou Marc Roux, président du
Parvis du protestantisme, voici le texte du manifeste rédigé par le
Crif :

“Nous, Marseillais de toutes origines et de toutes identités, juifs,
musulmans, catholiques, protestants, Arméniens, religieux, laïcs ou
agnostiques, militants associatifs, acteurs de notre cité et amoureux
de notre pays la France, lançons un appel à la mobilisation
républicaine !

Parce que nous nous faisons de notre pays et de ses idéaux une noble
et grande idée, nous sommes révoltés par l’accroissement et la
banalisation des actes antisémites stimulés par un discours de haine
décomplexé, Parce que nous savons bien que l’antisémitisme est
toujours l’antichambre de tous les racismes et telle la gangrène,
détruit les fondements même de notre démocratie, Parce que voir des
jeunes musulmans endoctrinés et fanatisés s’armer et tuer des juifs
est insupportable pour nous tous, Parce que le péril est grand de
stigmatiser l’ensemble des musulmans, Parce que nous refusons d’être
les victimes ou les otages des extrémistes de tous bords, Parce que
nous ne sommes pas d’accord pour laisser nos villes, notre pays et
l’Europe tomber dans l’escarcelle des populistes et des démagogues de
toutes sortes, aujourd’hui, réunis et forts de ce qui nous rassemble,
fiers de nos différences, nous affirmons que les valeurs de fraternité
et de respect de l’autre méritent notre engagement total. (…)

Malgré la crise économique et morale qui affecte notre pays il est
urgent de mettre toutes nos forces du côté de l’espoir. Nous en
appelons à la responsabilité de toute la classe politique, des médias
et de chaque citoyen : les discours clivants qui enferment chacun dans
la solitude d’une identité doivent cesser. Il faut en finir avec le
déni et pointer sans faillir les dangers qui menacent notre pays.

Nous prenons notre part, solennellement, de l’effort commun en
annonçant ici la création d’un collectif : l’Appel de Marseille qui
travaillera à la préservation de nos valeurs et à la lutte contre
l’antisémitisme, le racisme et la haine de l’autre.

Nous voulons créer un espace de rencontres et de dialogues qui nous
permettra de préparer des actions concrètes. (…) Cet appel, comme
“La Marseillaise” partie de notre cité, devra être entendu et relayé
partout en France ! L’enjeu est grand et l’espoir nous porte !”

dimanche 29 juin 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
June 27 2014

US adopts bill on Christian properties in Turkey

WASHINGTON – Anadolu Agency

The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs has adopted a bill on
monitoring the return of property confiscated from Christians in
Turkey and Northern Cyprus.

The Committee will put a bill before the House to provide annual
assessments on the status of, and U.S. efforts to return, property
such as churches to the former Christian owners.

Republican Committee Chairman Ed Royce and ranking Democrat Eliot
Engel introduced the bill in March. It received bipartisan support in
the committee, but was met with opposition from Democrats Gerry
Connolly and Gregory Meeks.

“It simply does not reflect the relationship the U.S. has cultivated
with Turkey, a close and trusted NATO ally,” said Connolly. “Passing
this legislation will lead to a rupture in our relationship with
Turkey at a time when the preservation of our strategic alliance
should be a top priority.”

If the bill is adopted, the U.S. Secretary of State will have to
report no later than 180 days later on the State Department’s
engagement with Turkish authorities to return Christian properties,
and would have to do so until 2021.

In addition, all information would have to be summarized in the U.S
annual country reports on human rights. The bill is unlikely to go for
a full vote until after the summer recess.

ARMENIAN APRICOT EXPORT DOWN TO 70 TONS FROM 19,500 TONS A YEAR AGO

Fresh Plaza, Netherlands
June 27 2014

Armenian exports of fresh fruits and vegetables rose to 24,740 metric
tons as of June 25, up from 19,590 metric tons in the same time span
of 2013, deputy agriculture minister Robert Makaryan told ARKA today.

Makaryan said 2,620 tons were grapes, 339 tons – sweet cherries,
18,400 tons – potatoes, 1,500 tons – cabbage, 650 tons – beets and
radishes and 188 tons – carrots. The bulk of the exports went to
Georgia, Russia, Iraq, UAE and Kuwait.

He said exports of apricots slashed to 70 metric tons from 7,700
tons from the year before. According to a forecast of the ministry
of agriculture, apricot output this year will be about 8000 tons,
against 86,000 tons in 2013.

The dramatic drop is blamed on cold spells in late March that damaged
up to 90 percent of output in Ararat and Armavir regions.

CAUCASIAN RESORTS: GROWTH OF POPULARITY AND DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 27 2014

27 June 2014 – 4:04pm

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The modern tourist industry offers a huge variety of foreign and
Russian destinations. The Caucasus has always been one of attractive
regions for Russian tourists, due to beautiful nature, mild climate,
unique cultural legacy and other factors. lya Umansky, the vice
president of the ATOR, speaks about favorable and non-favorable
aspects of development of tourism in the region.

Umansky says that the demand for the South Caucasus resorts is growing:
“The directions are at a stage of development of the tourist flow. It
is not big at the moment. However, countries differ from each other
and should be considered separately. Let’s start with troublesome
Georgia. It has problems with tourist flow, the number of tourists,
and transportation of tourists. The key problem is transport. At the
moment it is very difficult and expensive to get there from Russia. The
number of Russians who want to visit Georgia is significant. We can
see a demand, but unfortunately, when we try to find the best option
of getting there for our tourists, the price is too high. That’s why
the number of tourists from Ukraine is much bigger than the number of
tourists from Russia in Georgia. There are almost no Russian tourists,
only those who live in neighboring regions and can get there by car. As
for Armenia, the situation is simpler and more interesting. Russian
tourists love the destination. And trying to find a solution to
Georgia, we organize such trips that a person goes to Armenia,
sees Armenia around, goes to Georgia and returns to Russia through
Armenia. The program is hard, considering the transport aspect,
but the prices are nice. And more and more tourists choose such
trips. Speaking about Azerbaijan, I think the problem of the low
tourist flow is Azerbaijan’s high prices. There is no problem with
transport, but hotels are too expensive. There are almost no economy
class hotels in Azerbaijan, only 4-5-star complexes which are rather
expensive. At the same time, the destination is being developed. It
got a serious impetus after hosting Eurovision. People got know Baku,
a region which is attractive and interesting for many people. People
want to visit the country and choose this direction. Unfortunately,
the inflow is not big. Speaking about the three countries in general,
they are developing in the sphere. I think in the near future they will
receive their tourists. People will choose the destinations. The only
thing is solving price problems – availability of transport tickets
or accommodation, regarding Baku.”

Speaking about resorts of the North Caucasus, Umansky noted that
“the demand is not big. The first reason is stereotypes. Even though
the situation has changed in recent years, people still remember
the events which took place in the region. In fact, the process of
breaking the negative image and stereotypes will take a lot of time.

Tourism is closely connected to security. When people choose a resort,
they don’t want risk, except for special tourist destinations.

However, development of these resort destinations and ski resorts
is absolutely the right path, as otherwise it would be impossible to
destroy the stereotypes; it will only grow in people’s minds and we
couldn’t defeat it ever. Of course, at first people from neighboring
regions will visit the resorts, but later tourists from other regions
will visit them and tell their friends about them. And step by step
the situation will change.”

The vice president of the ATOR commented on correlation between price
and quality: “The problem concerns not only the North Caucasus. There
is a problem of correlation between price and quality in Russian
resorts in general. But the key point is not in the product of the
resorts, but in ticket prices.”

Stepan Safaryan says quits Heritage Party, wishes success to party’s new board

16:24 28/06/2014 >> POLITICS

Heritage Party secretary Stepan Safaryan is quitting the party.

In his remarks at the 10th convention of the party, Safaryan said that
he is “taking a break” and that he plans to work as an expert.

He wished success to the party’s newly elected board.

“I hope this board will set higher objectives. I am thankful to
everyone for support and I hope you will not give up your convictions
and your struggle,” Safaryan noted.

Source: Panorama.am

Artashes Geghamyan urges Azerbaijan to start negotiations with Stepanakert

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Saturday, June 28, 14:44

During a summit in Baku, Head of the Armenian Delegation to OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly Artashes Geghamyan urged the Azerbaijani
authorities to start a dialogue with Stepanakert, APA reports.

Geghamyan said that it is a direct dialogue with Nagorno-Karabakh that
can contribute to the conflict settlement. He added that the
settlement should be based on the principle of peoples’ right to
self-determination.

The MP also blamed Azerbaijan for the fact that Baku relies on the US
rather than other co- chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Raffi Hovannisian: Armenia is under occupation of lies

June 28, 2014 | 13:18

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s political forces should abandon “the complex of
Jesus”, leader of Heritage party said during the tenth congress of the
party on Saturday.

Raffi Hovannisian believes the political parties should lay aside
their ambitions and unite, then people will take to the streets and
will start struggling for their rights.

“We should find the way uniting political forces. Unless we do it, the
current situation will continue for a long time,” he said.

Hovhannisian noted that Armenia “is under occupation of lies” and
named the political prisoners – Shant Harutyunyan and Volodya
Avetisyan.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am
News from Armenia – NEWS.am

We need Armenia without Serzh Sargsyan, says Heritage leader

15:24 * 28.06.14

We need a Republic of Armenia without Serzh Sargsyan’s presidency, the
opposition Heritage party’s leader said today at their political
force’s 10th congress.

“We are entering a period that demands a great responsibility. I don’t
know when we will have the critical mass – we may be mistaken as to
the timeframes – but that will definately happen,” Raffi Hovhannisyan
told the participants of the meeting.

Reiterating his earlier claim that the party was an absolute winner in
the 2013 presidential election, the Heritage leader said he is
convinced that the top government officials, including President
Sargsyan, acceded to power “through rigging methods”.

Hovhannisyan added, “This semi-finished period sees the struggle
continue, so we will lead it to a victory together with our
colleagues. It is easy to become cynical and speak under the walls,
but you have proven that hope can eventually win in our Republic.”