{"id":8341,"date":"2017-06-27T01:48:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T01:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/media-battle-v-corruption-well-come-home-part-ii\/"},"modified":"2017-06-27T01:48:03","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T01:48:03","slug":"media-battle-v-corruption-well-come-home-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/critique\/2017\/06\/27\/8341\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Battle v. Corruption: \u201cWell Come Home\u201d (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Mediamart<\/em> (Media Battle) is a digital game developed by the Media Initiatives Center [also responsible for this site] for journalism enthusiasts. Independent Armenia\u2019s media already has more than a quarter of a century of history, but media coverage of corruption (the fight against corruption) is more like a game at least in terms of effectiveness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>4. \u201cWell come home\u201d (Part II)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Officials and even some businessmen and journalists consider that the extent of corruption in Armenia or sometimes the greater obstacle is the difference in environments and thinking for diaspora Armenian entrepreneurs. Vahagn Hovnanyan (1932\u20132015) described the situation more figuratively, based on his more than two decades of experience <div class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-error\"><p><small><abbr title=\"Advanced Responsive Video Embedder\">ARVE<\/abbr> error: The [[arve]] shortcode needs one of this attributes av1mp4, mp4, m4v, webm, ogv, url<\/small><\/p><\/div><\/div>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtecenter\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W-PtYMi5pQ0\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So what has been done in practice to eliminate the objective and subjective shortcomings? In 2011, for instance, a group to protect the interests of diaspora Armenian investors was created. First Deputy of the State Revenue Committee (adjunct to the Government of Armenia) Armen Alaverdyan participated in one of the group\u2019s invited meetings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said,&nbsp;\u201cThree years ago, it would\u2019ve been impossible to talk about this, and now we\u2019re talking openly about shortcomings, and this is how we\u2019ll move forward\u201d (\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/hetq.am\/eng\/news\/11086\/blame-game-diaspora-investors-square-off-with-armenias-tax-officials-during-live-tv-link-up.html\">Blame Game: Diaspora Investors Square Off With Armenia&#8217;s Tax Officials During Live TV Link-Up<\/a>,\u201d Hetq.am, February 21, 2012).<\/p>\n<p>Alaverdyan is one of the longest-standing Armenian officials: from 1991, he worked at tax agencies; from 1995, in the position of deputy minister. As for what he\u2019s been doing for 13 years \u201cdeputing\u201d various ministers if we\u2019ve been able to speak about shortcomings only these \u201cthree years\u201d is a mystery.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, discussion participant American-Armenian investor Edmond Khudyan is not complaining of some&nbsp;theoretical shortcoming, but rather of the outrageous bias of law enforcement bodies: upon Khudyan\u2019s request, criminal proceedings were launched for cheating him of tens of millions of dollars, but the person in charge has not been called in for questioning at least once in eight months.<\/p>\n<p>Participants of the same gathering recall a group of US Congressmen who during a brief visit to Armenia noted that \u201cduring meetings with the Armenian president and speaker of the parliament, the congressmen declared outright that Armenia was sliding backwards due to the lack of a favourable investment environment and that even diaspora investors didn\u2019t want to do business in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hetq.am journalist Kristine Aghalaryan remembers a diaspora Armenian businessman who died in prison. In her opinion, perhaps only the media could\u2019ve helped, for his life not to have come to such a tragic end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtecenter\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wqUPNJcNLlw\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The situation for foreign non-Armenian investors naturally must be more complicated than for diaspora Armenians, because of the lack of common language and the presumably lack of acquaintances and contacts. It\u2019s not strange that American investor David Bequette discovers an absurd, Samuel Beckett\u2013type reality.<\/p>\n<p>In conversation with <em>Aravot<\/em> newspaper journalist Nelly Babayan, he describes with what steps state officials \u201care systematically killing small businesses\u201d (\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aravot.am\/2015\/08\/28\/603102\/\">In Armenia, small businesses are systematically killed<\/a>,\u201d August 28, 2015).<\/p>\n<p>A Ministry of Emergency Services\u2019 visit, a fine of 50 thousand AMD, no warning or time provided. \u201cThey wanted to fine us also for the lighting, but they couldn\u2019t find the relevant legislative codes and so they didn\u2019t fine us.\u201d Customs officials who \u201copenly asked for a bribe\u2026 We didn\u2019t pay it, and they intentionally held up our coffee at customs for three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The American entrepreneur is concerned about unjustified control prices. \u201cArmenia has closed borders on all sides, and because of customs, prices here are 20\u201325% higher than in the region. And the final cost to the consumer is even higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And then comes \u201csanitary inspection\u201d or the state health inspectorate \u2014 a 300 thousand AMD fine. \u201cWhen we see that the entire system has a mechanism for punishment and not for assistance, it\u2019s very disappointing. Moreover, this punishment mechanism begins to feed that environment of bribery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tax receipt machines are expensive and monopolized. \u201cThrough these devices, the tax inspectorate can see in the given establishment, say, what food or drink is in demand, and they can easily make the establishment\u2019s business secrets \u2018their own\u2019 and open the same business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, when the tax receipt device malfunctions or the electricity is shut off, Bequette, who is one of the founders and owners of The Green Bean, has to stop working, taking the hit and losing customers. \u201cThere\u2019s just one company that services these devices, and it&nbsp;works until 5 pm\u2026 I spend on average 20% more for products purchased not directly from villagers but from other suppliers only because I am obliged to issue a tax receipt for my transactions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also considers wrong putting the responsibility of income tax on the employer\u2019s shoulders, as a result of which he can\u2019t provide higher wages as needed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonest business in Armenia is an expensive pleasure and a huge headache.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s interesting that a year and a half after this interview, <a href=\"http:\/\/newmag.am\/2016\/david\/#wp-image-37152,%2017.12.2016\">NewMag magazine interviews Bequette<\/a> with the headline \u201cYes, Armenia is a risky place to invest, but I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s impossible or so terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This might be due, on one hand,&nbsp;to the magazine\u2019s optimistic bent; on the other hand, the fact that the caf\u00e9 has continued to operate shows that David and his colleagues ultimately overcame any difficulties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In Aravot.am chief editor Anna Israyelyan\u2019s opinion, the media and raising the issues&nbsp;definitely played their part.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtecenter\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O3XpZx82h_s\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Compared to the investment sector, the media is in a much more complicated situation, when reporting on corruption. Journalists often encounter state secrets.<\/p>\n<p>(To be continued.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/media.am\/en\/lratun-corruption-4\">Part I of this article can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteright\"><strong>Vahram Martirosyan<br \/>\nHead of the Media Initiatives Center\u2019s Lratun media museum project<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mediamart (Media Battle) is a digital game developed by the Media Initiatives Center [also responsible for this site] for journalism enthusiasts. Independent Armenia\u2019s media already has more than a quarter of a century of history, but media coverage of corruption (the fight against corruption) is more like a game at least in terms of effectiveness.&nbsp;<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/critique\/2017\/06\/27\/8341\/\"> Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-critique","author_posts-vahram-martirosyan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}