The Armenian leading company in freight and agribusiness, Spayka, faces state charges over alleged tax evasion fraud. The company’s owner, Davit Ghazarian, is being held on a pre-trial arrest, reports the Armenian section of Radio Free Europe.

Investigations of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia (SRC) state that Spayka has evaded over 7 billion Drams (14.4 million US Dollars) in import taxes. Accusations stem from the large quantities of cheese and agricultural products which were imported by the company Greenproduct in 2015 and 2016. It is suspected that Greenproduct is being controlled by Spayka and that Spayka manipulated its customs documents in order to pay fewer taxes from those imports. Ghazarian denies these accusations and blames the government for “paralyzing” the operations of his company. He is firm on the standpoint that Spayka does not own Greenproduct and that it only carried out cargo shipments for them.

This constiutes a serious  serious threat because Spayka could boycott its operations on the Armenian market and abroad. As a response, several hundred Spayka workers demonstrated outside the court building in Yerevan. The workers said that they fear losing their jobs as a result of the criminal proceedings. The angry protesters responded to the court decision by blocking an adjacent street in the city center demanding Ghazarian’s release from custody.

An investigation is already set in full motion over the alleged charges, which is being conducted under the limelight of the Armenian Ombudsman. With the instruction of the Ombudsman an examination proceeding has been launched for undertaking steps within the framework of law, the press service of the Human Rights Defender’s Office reports.

The government officials are calming the fears that the company will function as normal while the trial is in process, but insist that a fair investigation process is required in order to effectively deal with the situation. “All are equal before the law”, said the Head of the Prosperous Armenia faction Gagik Tsarukyan, but warned that “the law enforcers are yet to prove the accusations. During this period it will be wrong to suspend the export as it will be a serious harm. It is necessary to discuss it right, to see, if the person is guilty and has to be held responsible, but nothing should be done until it is proven”, he concluded.

The same point of view is shared by the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. “I have told everyone to investigate in accordance to the law, but to do it in a way not to impede the company's working process,” said the head of the Armenian government. He stated that if Spayka wants to boycott, other companies would come forth and the (Armenian) market would be balanced out. “We will see soon whether they will stop or not. They will work normally as they do not want to lose millions of dollars just for boycotting”, concluded Pashinyan.

Spayka was set up in 2001 and has since become Armenia’s leading producer and exporter of fruits, vegetables and some prepared foodstuffs. The company currently employs more than 1,200 people mostly working in its greenhouses and buys products from thousands of Armenian farmers. It also has a large fleet of heavy trucks. The ownership of Spayka has long been a subject of Armenian media speculation and attention. Some media outlets have linked it to the family of former President Robert Kocharian and his successor Serzh Sarkisian’s son-in-law, Mikael Minasian. Ghazarian again reaffirmed on Friday that he is the company’s sole real owner and has no “business relationship” with Minasian, contradicting the media's accusations.