“They haven’t punished Natali Pharm, nor they have fined it, if it was fined $50 million, it would really be a big economic punishment,” Garnik Sahakyan, the president of Szni, a company importing medication, said about the decision to fine Natali Pharm 50 million AMD ($120 thousand) for abusing the dominating position.
Natali Pharm prevented Szni from participating in a competition for importing medication. “The letter of the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition addressed to the Prime Minister read that they had accepted dumping and today the commission didn’t accept the dumping. Given the fact that Natali Pharm has had a dominating position in the market for many years, that fine is nothing,” Garnik Sahakyan said during a conversation with us. In response to a question of www.aravot.am how much Szni had lost as a result of such an attitude of Natali Pharm, Mr. Sahakyan assured that around $150 thousand, however the biggest loss was that the businessman had been lying down for a rather long period of time as a result of this cunctation and struggle and as he said, he hadn’t recovered consciousness, “Not only Natali Pharm is to blame. Natali is a part of the government-business system similar to Siamese twins, which has destroyed representatives of thousands of small and medium enterprises, therefore, this fine – 50 million AMD – is nothing.”
In response to our question whether, according to the businessman, this fine would call Samvel Alexanyan to order and would not create anticompetitive conditions for other businessmen, Garnik Sahakyan said, “This depends on the president of the country. If
the president has taken him to the parliament, if one of the main sponsors of the whole election campaign is Samvel Alexanyan, if Alexanyan also finances the presidential election and election fraud in the short run, what change can one talk about? Serzh Sargsyan is sitting on a branch, which is Samvel Alexanyan. If that branch is cut, the president will hit his head on the ground and die. He will not do that. They are interconnected, they have a common cardiovascular system, they have common blood circulation, they are one organism with 2 heads – one is power and the other money.”
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In response to our question whether Szni would continue its activities in the market of drugs, Mr. Sahakyan said, “I have no money, I am bust, I have one pharmacy, it gives me money for living, what business?”
The businessman who had suffered because of Samvel Alexanyan urged during a conversation with us to publish what he had said word by word, since according to him, he had nothing to lose anymore, “I hate this president, this man has become a disaster for these people. I hate him, haaate, write as I say, let them come and cuff me in the bed and bring me in. This will not change, Serzh Sargsyan is so deeply involved in economic crimes, he has no other team, his team is a team of thieves and criminals. If he starts to incrementally push those out of his team, he will be all alone. For example, the National Assembly and the forces that support him – all of them are involved in economic crimes… united around a common trough, the trough, out of which pigs eat, they are a team united around a budget trough. I urge all entrepreneurs not to believe and apply to anyone, either the court system, or the prosecutor’s office, or the Commission for Protection of Economic Competition, or the Prime Minister.”
NELLY BABAYAN
P.S. The problems between Szni and Natali Pharm are not novel, Natali Pharm regularly impeded the activities of Szni last year. For instance, the following case – on December 30, 2011, the Economic Department of the Police of the Republic of Armenia informed with an official letter that according to the decision made at a meeting on summarizing the results of a competition held by the commission of a competition with “ՇՀԱՊՁԲ-11/4” password on December 20, 2011, Szni LLC was found the winner with a share of 130 and got the right to provide services worth 1 272 000 AMD. On the next workday, 1/9/2012, the director of Szni LLC came to the Police of the Republic of Armenia within the period provided for by the law to sign a contract, but he was denied for ungrounded reasons. The price offered by Szni LLC was 318 AMD, but a contract was signed with New International Business Pharm LLC for 900 AMD inflicting damage of 2 328 000 AMD on the state.
The director of Szni filed a petition in the court against the Economic Department of the Police of the Republic of Armenia regarding this issue.
Aravot talked about the details of another story last November. You can read it here.
