The Murky Story of “Balkan PET Company”
One of the murky episodes in the history of the Arsenyan family’s business is the establishment of the “Balkan PET Company” in Bulgaria, which existed for less than two years, was officially dissolved, but seven years later continued to appear in Vagahn Arsenyan’s property declaration as an active asset.
According to a “Hetq” investigation, in October 2016 Sedrak Arustamyan, who was acting on behalf of Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan, signed an agreement with Vagahn Arsenyan.
At the end of the same month, the partners registered the “Balkan PET Company” in Bulgaria. It was registered at the address of the mineral water factory acquired by Gagik Tsarukyan in Sofia, had the minimum statutory capital, and Arsen Ohanjanyan, head of the foreign trade department of “Jermuk Group,” was appointed its director.
The company existed for about a year and a half. In May 2018, Radostina Kirilova Nikolova was appointed liquidator, after which the procedure for terminating its activities began. According to data from Bulgarian state registers, the company was officially dissolved on December 14, 2018.
Despite this, “Balkan PET Company” continues to appear in Vagahn Arsenyan’s 2025 property declaration as an active asset, creating an apparent discrepancy between the data in the official Bulgarian registers and the declared information.
The emergence of two companies in Armenia and Bulgaria with almost identical names has itself also attracted the attention of investigative journalists.
Similar corporate structures can be used to organize foreign trade operations, purchase raw materials and equipment within the European Union, as well as optimize logistics and the tax burden. Having its own legal entity in an EU country allows a manufacturer to directly purchase PET preforms, polymers, equipment, and other materials without intermediaries.
In addition, such companies can potentially be used in transfer pricing schemes, when supplies between related entities are carried out at internal prices, while the main profit is concentrated under another jurisdiction. At the same time, the “Hetq” investigation does not claim that “Balkan PET Company” was used in precisely such a scheme.