By Ani Paitjan
Workers of the freight and agribusiness company “Spayka” held a rally in front of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on April 8.
They were protesting the court decision’s to hold their director, Davit Ghazaryan, in custody for two months.
Charges were filed against Ghazaryan on April 4. He is being accused of avoiding payment of large amounts of taxes.
The State Revenue Committee (SRC) said that the Spayka company evaded over $14.4 million in import taxes.
SRC noted that the case concerns large quantities of cheese and agricultural produce that were imported to Armenia by another company, Greenproduct, in 2015 and 2016.
SRC claims Greenproduct is controlled by Spayka and that the company falsified customs documents to pay less taxes on those imports.
Ghazaryan denied the accusations and blamed the authorities of “paralyzing” his company’s operations during a press conference on April 5.
The protests moved to the government building on Republic Square. Nairi Sargsyan, the assistant to Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, approached the demonstrators and promised to present their demands to the prime minister.
Spayka was founded in 2001 and is Armenia’s leading producer and exporter of fruits, vegetables and some prepared foodstuffs. The company currently employs more than 1,200 people in its greenhouses. It also buys produce from thousands of Armenian farmers.
