Amalyan not saying “A1+” in principle?
The RA National Commission on Television and Radio announced the results of the broadcasting tender today and based on the results, "A1+" was deprived of airtime once again. The 7 members of the NCTR, including Grigor Amalyan, Zhirayr Dadasyan, Simavon Andreasyan, Armen Mkrtchyan, Aram Melkonyan, Hayk Kotanyan and Koryun Arakelyan gave "A1+" a score of 0 and "ArmNews" a score of 6. Member Ara Tadevosyan's score of 2 was an exception. Koryun Arakelyan, who was confused during the vote, rated "ArmNews" 5 and then 6.
After the results were announced, Chairman of the NCTR Grigor Amalyan announced that "A1+" score was due to "overtly false documents in the proposal package".
According to Amalyan, the foreign companies providing financial aid to "Meltex" Company don't really exist.
"Two international companies, including ROGESTON LOGISTICS LTD and HOBBINGTON MANAGEMENT LIMITED have expressed willingness to provide financial assistance. The difference between the documents and stamps of these companies made the commission members call them into question. The document of ROGESTON LOGISTICS LTD was stamped with the name ROGERSON and the same goes for HOBBINGTON. The British state registry told us that HOBBINGTON MANAGEMENT LIMITED terminated its activities in 2007 and only had 2 Funt Sterling on its account in 2006. We also asked the Belis State and found out that there is no such company named ROGESTON LOGISTICS LTD," said Amalyan.
President of "A1+" Mesrop Movsesyan considered this charge as groundless.
"I would like to explain to Mr. Amalyan that ROGESTON LOGISTICS LTD has different branches and one of them is in Russia. The company has presented sums and that is why the stamp is on the top. It is corporation which has branches in different parts of the world and I think Amalyan's charge is absurd," said Movsesyan.
Amalyan also called into question the certificate sent by an anonymous benefactor by the name of Anna Tanielyan. The members of the commission didn't find Tanielyan's signature or stamp.
In response to that, Mesrop Movsesyan mentioned:
"They say there was no signature or stamp and that it was given by the Tanielyan family. Our attorney will present everything during the press conference," said Movsesyan.
According to Amalyan, "A1+" can dispute the NCTR's decision if it presents documents that show the opposite and proves that those companies truly exist.
"We can dispute not to prove, but to clarify. I have nothing to prove," said the "A1+" President.
Recently, the Board of Trustees of the "People's TV" Foundation supporting "A1+" announced that the NCTR had not provided "Meltex" LTD ("A1+") with the copies of proposal packages of "ARMENIA TV" CJSC and "ArmNews" CJSC, saying that "A1+" will be able to receive the copies after 20 January 2011.
The NCTR has not ensured the principle of transparency of television frequency tender and has violated the right to freedom of information.
In response to that, NCTR Chairman Grigor Amalyan mentioned that at the moment the commission and the staff were working on the packages.
During the press conference, one of the journalist noted that throughout the conference, Amalyan gave the names of all television stations without mentioning the names of the companies and only named "A1+" as "Meltex" LTD. Is it hard for you to pronounce the word "A1+"? In response, Amalyan said: "No, it is just that the companies have appealed to us and a television station is not a legal entity."
Let us add that "ALM" was also deprived of airtime after losing to "Yerevan". "ALM" scored 32 points, while "Yerevan" scored 40. Tigran Karapetyan left the hall.
All members of the NCTR gave all other proposal packages a score of 6.
During today's tender, 5 television stations received a broadcasting license, including "ARMENIA", "SHANT", "Second Armenian Channel", "Kentron" and "Yerkir Media".
