Two Unfulfilled Promises of Vanadzor “Offshore” TPP

On August 14, 2014, the Government adopted N 837-A decree “On approving the main provisions of the agreement on the construction and operation of a thermal power plant in the Republic of Armenia.

Director of Georgian company “Anaklia IEP Holding” Teimuraz Karchava told in Tbilisi’s “Ria Novosti” press club that it is envisaged to build the new plant in Vanadzor, in the former thermal power plant (TPP) area. It will be composed of two power units, each with a capacity of 270MW. The TPP will be constructed and operated by the company “Anaklia Energy” in Armenia, and the product will be exported to Georgia.

A few days after the decree was adopted, the agreement on constructing the TPP was signed between the RA Government and “Anaklia IEP Holding” in the RA Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources”. The amount of investments was impressive, 600 million USD.

After a while, however, it turned out that the company is not Georgian but an offshore one. It was registered in British Virgin Islands at the end of 2013.

Company Director Teimuraz Karchava has a noteworthy criminal record. He was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months in prison for using false documents and illegally crossing the border of Russia.

Nevertheless, almost 3 years have passed since the agreement was signed between the RA Government and the aforementioned company but the TPP has not been constructed yet.

Moreover, in 2016, the government signed an agreement with another company, “Grange Power”, for the construction of a TPP in Vanadzor. It is noteworthy that “Grange Power” is also an offshore company, just as “Anaklia IEP Holding”, and is registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis Federation (a state in the Pacific Ocean with a population of 50 thousand).

Note that there is only one convenient site for the construction of a thermal power plant in Vanadzor, and it is the area of the former Vanadzor TPP. It results that the government has signed agreements for TPP construction in the same city with two offshore companies. Moreover, the agreement signed with “Anaklia IEP Holding” has not been cancelled (at least the decree has not been revoked or changed in the legal information system of Armenia).

And here the question is not only the unfulfilled promises of constructing a TPP in Vanadzor but also the fact that the Government signs agreements for the construction with offshore organizations, and this contains very serious corruption risks.