"Banana empire" of Armenia's rulers
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The latest session of the Armenian parliament saw a hot "banana debate" primarily focused on the current prices of the exotic fruit on domestic markets.
Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition MP, said while the yellow fruit costs between $1 and $1.2 per kilo throughout Europe, in Armenia a kilo is sold for more than $1.5.
Pashinyan pointed his finger at Mihran Poghosyan, head Armenia's Compulsory Enforcement Service, calling him the "king" of banana market backed by President Serzh Sargsyan.
"And against this backdrop, he introduces himself as a patriot. Do you believe him?" Pashinyan ardently said at the parliament session. "If you’re such a patriot don’t do things that force people to leave the country. Let them run their businesses."
He noted that banana imports are under a solid monopoly in Armenia, which in turn kills the rivalry in the markets alongside triggering the price hike.
Over 12 tons of bananas were imported to Armenia in 2014, according to figures issued by the National Statistical Service.
Ridiculously, Armenia has also presented itself as an exporter of bananas in the near past.
Hetq, investigative journalism center in Yerevan, discovered that Mihran Poghosyan, who enjoys a monopoly over the fruit imports to Armenia, established Ketrin LLC company in 2009, in an effort to import bananas, to process the fruit into banana oil, and then to export it to the Bahamas.
They say "don't teach one's grandmother to eat eggs," and in this case Armenia tried to ridiculously monetize domestically made banana oil in the banana-reach Bahamas, where exotic fruits are almost viewed as an example of "tangible heritage".
It was just an unbelievable milestone in Armenia's export industry being primarily a matter of jokes and mockeries.
Finally, Ketrin company called it quited and avoided to pay the government taxes amounting to some $1.479 million, whilst Poghosyan remains a sole supervisor of the banana market.
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