Importers arrested

01/03/2007

“Noyan Tapan” released news on February 20 according to which head of the customs point of the “Zvartnots” airport Karen Janoyan was fired along with some staff members. According to “Noyan Tapan”, the reason was the illegal import of products. According to sources of “Panorama.am”, a large amount of mobile phones were imported illegally to Armenia.

“They logged in neither in the cargo complex, nor in the storage room, nor were they checked at customs. So, they were exempt from taxing and customs checks. As a result, a group of importers were arrested and head of the regional customs home of “Zvartnots” airport, deputy heads, head of evaluation department and other officials were fired. A group of people are in prison and the National Security Service adjacent to the Government of Armenia is leading the investigation”.

In response to the questions of the website, the State Customs Committee replied that they had no news regarding illegally imported mobile phones; otherwise they would make an announcement. As for the workers, they commented that the cadre changes that took place were conditioned by reforms.

“This year it is foreseen to collect 180.1 billion drams worth of customs entries. In the case of such high indicators, there is special emphasis on perfection of bureaucracy and the increase in the level of effectiveness of activities of all territorial customs bodies. With that purpose there have been structural reforms at the “Zvartnots” territorial customs home and a group of department heads has been fired from work,” said Customs Committee correspondents. According to our sources, Karen Janoyan has been completely removed from customs.