Suspicious Deal of MTS Armenia: Fact

The newspaper "Fact" reports: As is known, the Public Services Regulatory Commission has approved the sale of 100% of MTS Armenia's shares. The buyer is "Fedilko Group Limited." This seemingly ordinary "buy-sell" transaction is noteworthy because just a few months ago, the SAME commission rejected a similar application for the sale of the SAME shares to the SAME organization.

Moreover, the decision was made based on a negative conclusion from the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, which specifically referenced a legal provision stating that "the approval of a transaction may be denied if, according to the competent authority’s assessment, it harms or may harm national security or state interests." However, no explanations were provided as to how the threat of "harming national security or state interests" has disappeared in just a few months. In short, this is quite a strange transaction, to say the least. Additionally, a report has been filed with the Prosecutor General and the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee to clarify several at least murky and questionable circumstances related to this transaction. However, as attorney Armine Panyon noted, the Anti-Corruption Committee decided not to initiate proceedings regarding MTS Armenia's transfer to an unknown company in relation to her report. She also stated that she plans to appeal this decision.

In a conversation with "Fact," the lawyer mentioned: "An appeal has been filed with the Prosecutor General’s Office. We received a decision from the prosecutor overseeing legality stating that our appeal was denied. This decision has now been appealed to the Anti-Corruption Court, and we have yet to receive a decision on whether a case will be initiated." The material was ready for publication when it became known that the Public Services Regulatory Commission has included the issue of rejecting the transaction regarding the sale of MTS Armenia in its agenda for the meeting scheduled for January 17. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of High-Tech Industry has raised objections regarding the sale of the company. Interestingly, the issue of "damaging national security or state interests" has suddenly resurfaced. The only positive aspect in this entire murky story is that the issue, raised multiple times by media outlets including ours, seems to have garnered attention and has begun to receive further consideration.