Thursday, September 5 2019 12:37

ArmInfo.The reason for the departure of Dundee Princes Metal Kapan from Armenia in 2016 was exorbitant fines by the State Revenue Committee. A post about this on  his Facebook page was left by the former CEO of the company, Grach  Dzhabrayan.  According to him, starting from the first quarter of  2013, the State Revenue Committee began conducting inspections at the  company, on the basis of which Dundee Precious  Metal Kapan was fined  $ 10 million in 2014.

"I asked Gagik Khachatryan four times (the then  head of the State Duma, now arrested in a number of high-profile  cases, is red), but he didn't answer," wrote Hrach Jabrayan. In order  to resolve the issue, he met with RA President Serzh Sargsyan, who  pointed out the importance of financing the armed forces, demanding  payments. On the same day, Jabrayan met with then Prime Minister  Hovik Abrahamyan, who requested $ 5 million to solve the problem. In  response, the then head of the company offered $ 1.5 million as a  gift to the country's armed forces, but this proposal did not suit  Hovik Abrahamyan. "Go and solve the problem with Gagik Khachatryan,  then Hovik Abrahamyan told me," the ex-general director emphasized,  adding that Abrahamyan also demanded $ 150 thousand in the form of a  gift for the construction of a new church in Artashat, which he was  grossly refused.

A similar meeting, but a short one, took place with Gagik  Khachatryan, who also demanded payments, but in response, Dzhabrayan  announced intentions to apply to international arbitration and sell  the company.  Ultimately, the company was sold. "Now go and bang your  heads against the wall, for the power that bought you for 10 thousand  drams, always robbed you>, - wrote Grach Dzhabrayan.

Recall that Dundee Princes Metals Kapan CJSC was part of the Canadian  Dundee group of companies. The shareholder of Dundee Precious  Metals  Kapan company operating in Armenia was Vatrin Investment company,  registered in the British Virgin Islands. At the beginning of 2016,  the company was sold to the Russian mining company Polymetal  International plc. The transaction value then amounted to $ 25  million, of which $ 10 million were cash, and new Polymetal shares  were issued for $ 15 million. However, the Russian company also did  not stay long in Armenia, selling the Kapan mine in October 2016 to  Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited (AIM: CGH) for $ 55 million ($ 99 per  ounce of gold equivalent of ore reserves).  The resources of the  deposit are estimated at 16 million tons of ore, which contains 1.4  million ounces of gold, 24 million ounces of silver, 80 thousand tons  of copper and 270 thousand tons of zinc.