Ordered materials will not help evade responsibility, Harutyunyan

The head of the Transport Department of the Yerevan Municipality, Vazgen Harutyunyan, wrote on his social media page: “No one can hope that they can evade responsibility with ordered and defamatory materials. On June 20, 2025, journalist Grisha Balasanyan published an article titled 'Suspicious procurement procedures for buses: What is the head of the Transport Department’s connection to Zhongtong?'. In this article, the journalist attempted to assert my alleged connection to Zhongtong Bus Holding CO. LTD and the subsequent possible support of this company.

This is not the first article of its kind concerning me published by journalist Grisha Balasanyan, and it is significant that such articles appear every time when the insatiable desire of certain individuals to squander financial resources from the Yerevan budget is thwarted. More details below.

Thus, the Yerevan Municipality has acquired a total of 562 buses and 15 trolleybuses from Zhongtong, distributed as follows:

• 2021 – 211 units, 1 unit at 44,720,000 AMD,
• 2022 – 150 units, 1 unit at 44,249,499 AMD,
• 2023 – 30 units, 1 unit at 0 AMD,
• 2024 – 171 units, 1 unit at 36,842,105 AMD.

It is evident from the above that the Yerevan Municipality began acquiring buses from Zhongtong when I was not yet working in the Transport Department, with Hayk Marutyan as the mayor and Hrachya Sargsyan as the coordinating deputy. In other words, I did not have any official role during the initial years of cooperation with Zhongtong.

After the change of the mentioned officials, I was appointed as the head of the Transport Department in May 2023, taking on responsibility for the bus procurement process. Moreover, at the time of my appointment, Zhongtong had already imported 150 buses under the second order, but the acceptance transfer was not completed.

By examining previously signed contractual and international prices, I met and negotiated with representatives of Zhongtong, as a result of which the company supplied an additional 30 buses to the city of Yerevan within the contractual price framework, reducing the contracted price per bus by 7,374,916 AMD. This means that within the framework of my so-called 'cooperation,' the Yerevan community received 30 buses for free, reducing the acquisition price per bus under the contract signed before my tenure.

Furthermore, the subsequent acquisition from Zhongtong during my tenure was made at an even lower price, and it can be concluded, if one is impartial, whose interests my 'cooperation' has served and whose interests it has harmed.

By the way, not focusing solely on Zhongtong, it is also very coincidental that before my appointment, the Yerevan Municipality purchased trolleybuses from Yutong Bus Co. Ltd at 138,560,000 AMD per unit, while during my tenure, the same trolleybuses were purchased from the same company at 96,140,000 AMD per unit, which has also escaped the journalist's attention. This is certainly a case where the published numbers speak for both the interests and the objectivity of the journalist's investigation.

The above briefly summarizes what my official cooperation with Zhongtong has entailed and what results it has yielded for the Yerevan community. Contrary to the article by Hetq’s investigative fame, it contained impressive form but was fundamentally baseless in content. Grisha Balasanyan mentioned in his article, as a revelation, that I, while being the director of 'Armchi' LLC, founded in 2020, signed a service agreement with Zhongtong on March 26, 2021, and therefore collaborated with this company.

It is obvious that during the mentioned period from 2020 to 2023, I had no legal or functional restrictions, let alone a conflict of interest, to engage in such cooperation. For a journalist conducting an impartial investigation, my denial should have been a signal to analyze the collected information more carefully.

Specifically, without the 'dubiously obtained' photocopy, the journalist could have also learned that 'Armchi' company ceased its operations immediately after its establishment and had no turnover until 2023. Accordingly, the claim based on the published photocopy that 'Armchi LLC has cooperated with Zhongtong' is unfounded and clearly refutable, considering the evidence I mentioned. Furthermore, 'Armchi' has only collaborated with 'Fora' since 2023 and has not partnered with any other organization. This means that besides not having any collaboration with Zhongtong, 'Armchi' has never provided bus services.

The journalist could easily have verified this, including checking where the acquired buses have been serviced since the day of acquisition. I do not rule out that this information might have been known to the journalist when he wrote the article but was omitted in the publication. The reader can imagine that if a contract like this existed, how assiduously it would have been presented by the journalist.

Often, the protection of community interests contrasts with the interests of certain private entities who resort to various means. Coincidentally, every time I take official measures to prevent the squandering of municipal budget related to bus services and road signage, Grisha Balasanyan publishes an article with baseless allegations.

It is hard to believe that in an impartial investigation, Grisha Balasanyan did not ascertain that bus maintenance has been carried out by 'Ivi Motors' LLC for a long time. Perhaps an interesting subject for journalistic investigation would be to find out whether the journalist failed to mention 'Ivi Motors' LLC due to being connected with it or simply conducted an incomplete study. If Hetq is interested in the efficiency of bus services, I can provide ample information regarding 'Ivi Motors' activity, although I would prefer to work on resolving these issues.

And in general, an investigative journalist should not be needed to ascertain where the buses crisscrossing the city every day have been serviced. In this context, even discussing the sections of the article that concern the technical specifications of the tender is unnecessary. Without motivation from bias and in light of other circumstances, one can read the information published in the official procurement records, including technical specifications.

P.S. In general, no one can hope that ordered and defamatory materials will allow them to evade responsibility, but I believe there will be journalists who will uncover the corrupt connections between unscrupulous operators and their real beneficiaries.