OPEN LETTER FROM

Panorama.am

12:27 17/03/06

TO: THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA ROBERT KOCHARYAN

DEAR MISTER PRESIDENT

The circumstance of non-responding to the applications in advance addressed to you gave grounds to suppose that they didn´t reach the addressee, consequently choosing the way of turning publicly to you by the open letter, we hoped to express our anxiety concerning illegal actions, had committed towards the company "Royal Armenia" and its heads. As a result of machination of a group of managing officials at the customs state committee of the Republic of Armenia /hereinafter CSC/ on 10.03.2005 criminal legal proceedings were instituted towards the company "Royal
Armenia"; and during the seventh month of the criminal case investigation, joint owner of the company Hakobyan Gagik and vice director Ghazaryan Aram were arrested on 11.10.2005 and had been under arrest for about 5 months. Analyses of one-year criminal case and five months arrest of the latter revealed that not an objective investigation complying with criminal proceedings law of RA was held but a criminal terror, which was carried out by the investigator Marukyan Mnatsakan in favor of carelessness towards all the arguments and written evidences of the company and arrested officials, declaring them false without analyzing to the extent of attempts to qualify the whole economic activity of LLC "criminal" within the period of the last six months. While all the incriminating proclamations, made by Bedrossian Vache, USA citizen, declared as "victim", by the investigator´s own free will had been accepted as a gospel truth and he had kept the people arrested on the grounds of it. The investigator who was the first responsible for ungrounded arrest, made all the efforts for justifying his illegal actions and fabricated accusations concerning the arrested. We understand that some customers stand under his back, however we find that law must operate in Armenia, consequently availability of the customers doesn´t release the investigator from an obligation to act objectively, lack of which is unspeakably tremendous.

Actually the company "Royal Armenia" as well as Hakobyan Gagik and Ghazaryan Aram were punished for non-implementation of illegal requirement made by corrupted managing officials at CSC, however the funny side of a situation is that the latter were accused because formerly Hakobyan Gagik, refusing the high-ranking customs officials, denied to execute. According to the hypothesis of preliminary investigation, Hakobyan Gagik had been accused in fraud as well, which became apparent in debts to Bedrossian Vache, USA citizen, and refusal from returning the debts, however in reality Bedrossian Vache, USA citizen owed money to Hakobyan Gagik and at these circumstances the label fraudster suited Bedrossian Vache, USA citizen. The applications sent to you, containing details of the above-mentioned and written evidences were handed over the President´s Staff of RA in time, consequently we ask to become familiar with them in order to make sure in the pointed out.

Taking an opportunity we want to recall to the address of CSC, during the meeting at the beginning of year you expressed your negative treatment: for clearance of various customs values of imported identical goods with similar provisions, as during the last 2.5 years the company "Royal Armenia" had been considered as one of the victims of such illegal actions made by the customs officials. For the first time the company "Royal Armenia" stated about it at press conference, held on 26.07.2004, revealing corruption disclosure available at the base of customs values "games", established for imported coffee by CSC. As a result the corrupted high-ranking customs officials has been unpunished up to day and continue to hold profitable offices, and the fathers of corruption together instituted criminal legal proceedings towards an innocent person, revealed "imprudence" while expressing his loudly addressed opinion concerning the corruption. We also remember that the instruction given by you to the head of CSC during the meeting at the beginning of year, to punish all the officials, which bear responsibility for establishing wrong
customs values in 2005. Let us point out that over two months passed after meeting, but nothing was said about execution of your instruction by the head of CSC.

Proceeding from the above-mentioned we ask your cooperation for termination of illegal actions, carried out towards the company "Royal Armenia" and its heads as well as for releasing innocent people in criminal-legal sense.

Thanks beforehand
"Royal Armenia" JV LLC
Director /signature/ Toni El Labaki
Lawyer /signature/ Minasyan Gevorg
March 14, 2006

/Seal of "Royal Armenia" JV LLC/