City Hall Uncovers Fraudulent Bank Guarantees by Companies, Spokesperson Responds to Khajakyan

The spokesperson for the Yerevan Mayor, Hakob Karapetyan, has addressed the recent statements made by David Khajakyan, the leader of the Yerevan Council's 'Luminous' faction, regarding the involvement of two companies using fake bank guarantees in tenders. He emphasized that the city hall had uncovered the fraud but had not informed the public about it.

In relation to this, Hakob Karapetyan wrote on his Facebook page: 'David Khajakyan, the leader of the Yerevan Council’s 'Luminous' faction, made a public statement regarding the fake bank guarantees provided by 'Etalon Group' LLC and 'RASHN VOYAGE' LLC participating in the city hall's procurement processes. Mr. Khajakyan's first post on the issue was on May 16.'

He noted that the fact of the existence of fake bank guarantees in the documents presented by these companies was uncovered as a result of actions taken by the Yerevan City Hall, weeks before Khajakyan's post, and the mayor had instructed to inform law enforcement about the apparent violation.

Thus, the procurement department of the Yerevan City Hall sent copies of four guarantees provided by 'Etalon Group' LLC and 'RASHN VOYAGE' LLC to Ameriabank CJSC on April 30, 2020, via email to verify the authenticity of the guarantees. In response, the bank informed that the guarantees had not been issued by Ameriabank CJSC and were fraudulent documents.

On May 5, 2020, the Yerevan City Hall submitted an official inquiry to Ameriabank CJSC regarding all guarantees provided by 'Etalon Group' LLC and 'RASHN VOYAGE' LLC, to which the bank replied on May 11, 2020, that all the guarantees had not been issued by Ameriabank CJSC and were fraudulent.

According to Point 8 of Subsection 33 of the 'Regulations on the Organization of the Procurement Process' approved by the Government of Armenia on May 4, 2017, on May 14, 2020, the contracting authority, Yerevan City Hall, unilaterally terminated contracts with codifications NN 'YK-BMTSDZB-20/27' and 'YK-BMTSDZB-20/41', signed on April 20, 2020, with 'ETALON GROUP' LLC. On May 15, 2020, contracts between the Yerevan City Hall and 'ETALON GROUP' LLC signed on February 20, 2020, with codifications NN 'YK-BMTSDZB-20/12' and 'YK-BMTSDZB-20/13' were also terminated, and information regarding 'ETALON GROUP' LLC and 'RASHN VOYAGE' LLC was forwarded to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia for their inclusion in the list of participants without the right to engage in procurement processes ('black list').

Before that, on May 12, 2020, the Yerevan Mayor instructed the legal department to notify law enforcement bodies about the aforementioned circumstances.

In response to council member David Khajakyan's remark that the City Hall had 'not informed the public' about the contract terminations and the reasons behind it, the City Hall stated that it conducts around 1,300 procurement processes throughout the year, and in approximately 60 cases, contracts have been terminated due to non-compliance with legislation and/or unreliable companies are sent to the 'black list'. Notifications about the presumed existence of criminal elements are also sent to law enforcement agencies if necessary. Such processes are numerous and do not require public notification.'