One of the former biggest factories of Yerevan was the “Vegetable
oil-Soap-Margarine” industrial complex. The products of the factory
have now been substituted by imports. In the domestic market, the
products in this field of economy are received by imports. Perhaps the
reason for the closing of the industrial complex is that in case it
starts working again, it will hurt the businessman involved in
importing products from Iran or Turkey.
It got sick
The Yerevan “Vegetable Oil-Soap” factory was founded in 1926. On
September 28, 2001, during the time when Artyom Vartanyan was the
owner, the factory was recognized as insolvent by the court of first
instance in Shengavit. Owner Artyom Vartanyan had only been working
there for two months. The process of bankruptcy started with former
owner Gevorg Azizyan who is currently deceased. The main obligations
have been accumulated during that time period.
The “Vegetable oil-Soap” factory was once an open joint-stock company
and different share-holders were administering the shop. The factory
went 100% bankrupt. According to business manager for the bankruptcy
case Gagik Barkhudaryan, the shops are having technical difficulties
and there are no large investments being made. The studies of the court
of economy have shown that the tendencies in economy and the energy
crisis during the 1990s have been some of the causes for bankruptcy.
Even though the factory has produced high-quality products, however,
the price value of the product has been higher than the price of the
Iranian and Turkish products being imported. Basically, the “Vegetable
oil-Soap” factory has not been able to withstand the competition. The
business manager of the factory is certain that the primary obligations
were accumulated starting from 1996 when the factory had received a
loan to buy soy. The produce did not expire and little by little there
were taxes on gas, electricity and revenue, accumulation of debts owed
to the bank and large fees added to the debts, percentages. Debtors
understood that the factory is insolvent and the revenue department
appealed to the court with the case of bankruptcy. The administration
did not take responsibility for anything due to the fact that the
court’s studies show that there has been no crime committed. The
business simply has not been able to keep its feet on the ground.
The sick patient was hopeless
When a business goes bankrupt, the debtor has the right to present a
convalescence financed project. According to the 60th article (“Hand-in
of convalescence financed project”) of the “Bankruptcy law of the
Republic of Armenia”, the debtor, the business manager, the lender who
satisfies at least 1/3 of the requirements stated, the lender who
satisfies at least 1/3 of the requirements not stated, as well as the
individuals who own 1/3 of the debtor’s regulated capital
(share-holding) may present the case. However, according to business
manager of the court of economy’s bankruptcy case Gagik Barkhudaryan,
the establishment has not presented any convalescence financed project.
“The corresponding establishment had to be ready for what could
have happened,” says G. Bardukhanyan, “they had probably thought that
that was impossible. After that the court made a decision to eliminate
the establishment. A decision was made on the auction of the property,
a specialist came and the property was evaluated. Approximately 15-18%
of the obligations have been received from the auction. During the
auction, the property was represented as a whole, meaning, the whole
factory. That did not interest the market. An auction was organized
five times, and the requirement for an auction was as follows: if the
property does not interest anyone in the market, according to the law,
the prices are reduced to 20% and the property is put up for auction
again. This means that you keep reducing the prices until you find a
buyer. After putting up the property for auction for five times, we
ended all auctions.”
As a result, the $1,000,000 dollar property of the “Vegetable oil-Soap”
factory was reduced to $600,000 dollars. However, it was not sold at
that price either. After the auction, the lenders decided to divide the
factory into “part”. The vegetable oil, soap and margarine and other
products have been put up for auction. After organizing an auction
three times in a row, the factory’s separate shops have been sold. “The
new owners of the “Vegetable oil-Soap” factory are the “ALH” INC,
(margarine workshop), Hamlet Vartanyan (vegetable oil shop), Stepan
Mkrtchyan (soap shop) and others. “The money received from the auction
got put in to the bankruptcy account, and according to the law, the
amount gets distributed. Unfortunately, we were not able to accomplish
many obligations, says G. Barkhudaryan. According to him, the court
case of the “Vegetable oil-Soap” factory is 99% complete and there
remains little of the factory’s property.
They are counterfeiting the sick one
Juliet Gevorgyan: “I have worked at the “Vegetable Oil-Soap” laboratory
since 1987. In 1991, they fired me from work and until today they have
not paid me the debt of the salary. I am a single mother. I am forced
to stand as a security guard in another factory in order to raise my
child. We go to the factory every day and they say come later. We are
sick and tired of it. They disgust you so much until you don’t feel
like going at all. Besides that, they made deals with us. They gave us
a certificate of share-holding, claiming that they would pay us based
on that certificate. The price of that is 50,000 dram. I present that
certificate to the business manager and he tells me that that is no
longer valid.”
Greta Tovmasyan: “They did not pay me either. They gave me my share
which costs 155,000 dram. I have three children. Who is going to pay
for that? It’s not my fault that the factory has been robbed.”
In any case, there is no expiration date for the shares so it can not
be considered old as stated by G. Barkhudaryan. Besides this, it is
stated that in case of liquidation, the share-holders have the right to
receive their share of property.