Government Grants Exemption to Company that Donated 1 Million Drams to Political Party

The government approved an exemption from customs duties for "Normed" LLC during its meeting on September 2, allowing the company to import technology worth a total of 6,458,000 drams from China. This was reported by Infocom.

Who owns "Normed" LLC?

According to the state register of legal entities, "Normed" LLC was founded on February 27, 2006, by Rouzanna Barsghyan and Garegin Altunyan, with Surik Altunyan serving as the director. Currently, 100% of the company is owned by Surik Altunyan, who is also the director.

Garegin Altunyan is the brother of Gevorg Altunyan, who serves as the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defense. This is confirmed by the state registry of voters, which shows that Gevorg and Garegin Altunyan are registered at the same address and have the same patronymic. The current shareholder of the company maintains a friendly connection with them.

Surik Altunyan's connections extend beyond his familial relationship with Gevorg Altunyan. Gevorg Altunyan is the uncle of Zarouhie Batoyan, a former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and now a Member of Parliament. Batoyan is a declarant official, and as such, those living with her are also required to submit annual declarations. Batoyan’s mother, Aghavnik Ashoti Altunyan, submitted a declaration as a cohabitant, and she is the sister of Surik Ashoti Altunyan.

It is noteworthy that the company that received the exemption made a donation of 1 million drams to the "Civil Contract" party in 2020. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that since 2017, the state has made purchases from this company through a single-source procurement process. Although the company was founded in 2006, it began participating in state procurement only after Gevorg Altunyan became the head of the department, and the volume of state purchases from this company increased following Zarouhie Batoyan's appointment.

Participation of "Normed" LLC in State Procurements

The Public Radio Company and the Ministry of Health signed 14 procurement contracts with this company, out of which 11 were single-source transactions, 1 was through an open competition without a tender announcement, and the other two were expenditures that did not constitute purchases. In total, the value of all contracts amounted to 91,520,000 drams, of which 84,601,000 drams (92.4%) were through single-source procurement. A significant part of the purchases—10 contracts—were concluded in 2020, the same year when the company donated 1 million drams to the "Civil Contract" party. The total value of purchases in 2020 was 65,523,000 drams.

Thus, based on the government decision, an exemption has been granted to a company that donated 1 million drams to the "Civil Contract" party in 2020, whose shareholder has friendly ties to the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defense as well as to MP Zarouhie Batoyan, and from which the state has made purchases via a single-source procurement process.