Civilnet. On New Asphalt-Paving Contracts of Alen Simonyan’s Brother
13 June 2022, Civilnet writes:
“Victories in state procurement tenders continue for ‘Euroasphalt,’ the company headed by Karlеn Simonyan, the brother of National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan.
The asphalt-paving company, which has a two-year history, is already winning larger tenders, with the total value of the contracts exceeding 2.5 billion drams.
Thus, ‘Euroasphalt’ has won tenders organized by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure for road repair works. Although these tenders had been announced back in 2021, the final agreements were signed this year, in 2022.
Under one of the contracts, the company is carrying out reconstruction works on certain sections of the Horum–Artik–Alagyaz republican highway. The value of this contract is more than 1 billion 45 million drams, or around $2.3 million.
There were six participants in this procurement tender. ‘Euroasphalt’ won by submitting an offer that was only 500,000 drams lower. That is, among the six participants, ‘Euroasphalt’ won with a price reduction of just 0.05 percent.
Under another contract, the company is carrying out reconstruction works on certain sections of the Ayntap–Mkhchyan–Artashat–Aygevan republican highway. The value of this contract is around 1.7 billion drams, or more than $3.7 million.
There were also six participants in this tender. ‘Euroasphalt’ came ahead of the company ‘Leopold and Friends,’ owned by the in-law of former President Robert Kocharyan, once again submitting a price offer that was only 500,000 drams, or 0.03 percent, lower.
Correction: The difference between the price offers submitted by ‘Euroasphalt’ and ‘Leopold and Friends’ was not 500,000 drams, but 5,000,000 drams.
On June 11, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited and familiarized himself with the progress of the reconstruction works on the Mkhchyan–Artashat–Aygevan republican highway and the Yeghegnavan–Aygevan road. Karlеn Simonyan was also there.
In order to participate in the state procurement tender, ‘Euroasphalt,’ represented by the company’s director Karlen Simonyan, submitted information on the beneficial owners, stating that the company’s shareholders are two women, Svetlana Kamo Poghosyan and Greta Sargsi Tadevosyan, while he himself is the general director.
Overall, over the past almost two years, ‘Euroasphalt’ has received orders worth more than 3.6 billion drams, or around $7.5 million, from state bodies.”