Thursday, October 30 2014

The open letter I have addressed to President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is the last step in my struggle against Unibank's illegality. I hope that the President is not aware of this case and my letter will help me to call the bank to order, Director General of Old Erivan Holding Manvel Ter-Arakelyan told journalists on Thursday.

He said that for five years already he has been trying in vain to prove in court that one day Unibank withdrew as much as 32.455mln AMD ($105,000) from his holding's account without its consent. "A few days later they added us to their blacklist and declared us bankrupt even though we had by then acted for as long as 25 years. I am forced to ask the President for help - for when you try to fight against a network of godfathers and patrons, you are always wrong," Ter-Arakelyan said.

He said that during the last court hearing he was denied the right to defend himself. "Unibank's lawyer pronounced my name for thousands times and they didn't even ask me once if what he said was true. Now I want just one thing: I want them to be unbiased in assessing Old Erivan's property so I can sell it and repay my debts. I had 19 restaurants and now they are all closed as for five years already I have been involved in litigations. I have lots of business offers from Europe and Russia, so, I will continue to work. But I will not make any investments in a country where a businessman is not allowed to develop his business," Ter-Arakelyan said, adding that he is going to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

To remind, on 25 May 2009 Unibank and Old Erivan Holding concluded a loan agreement, under which the repayment of the principal amount and the interest was to start 2 years later. According to the Holding owner, the Bank e-mailed him two versions of the repayment schedule.  One of the versions implied the loan repayment within a comparatively shorter period (nearly 44 mln AMD monthly). The other one stipulated a comparatively longer period (nearly 32 mln AMD monthly). Ter-Arakelyan chose the latter, i.e. the long-term version of loan repayment. The same day the Bank's representatives brought the agreement to him. Ter- Arakelyan signed the document but later he pointed out that he was mistakenly given the first version. 

Afterwards, the Bank itself made sure that it had sent the wrong version to the customer. So, it sent its representatives to Manvel Ter- Arakelyan once again, this time with the second version of the agreement, which he signed and sealed. "Thus, two agreements were concluded, however, only the second one is in force. Moreover, on 25 May, when repayment schedule was launched, the Bank withdrew 32 mln AMD from my account, i.e. as much as required by the second agreement.  Moreover, the Bank called my accountant and said that we needn't visit the Bank because they have withdrawn the required sum from my account and that everything is all right. That is to say, they were well aware that the first agreement was not in force", said Manvel Ter-Arakelyan.  He added that afterwards another bank offered him refinancing on better terms (at a lower interest rate) and decided to repay the whole debt to Unibank. 

At first, Unibank accepted the offer, but a month later, on June 17, 2014, it sent Old Erivan a paper saying that they had failed to meet their obligations, that is, to pay 44mln AMD on May 25, so, they would have to pay a fine. "They refer to the first agreement, which obliges me to pay 44mln AMD, but why then did they withdraw from my account the sum envisaged by the second agreement? They have left 305,000 AMD on my account. If I actually had to pay 44mln AMD, they should have left no money there and should have told me that I owe them the rest as I didn't have so much on my account," Ter-Arakelyan said. 

He said that based on the first agreement, Unibank CEO Vardan Atayan has complained to the police that he (Ter-Arakelyan) has forged Unibank's seal and his signature so as to swindle money of the bank.  "He claims that my signature and the bank's seal in the second agreement are also forged. And now I have to answer for this false denunciation," Ter-Arakelyan said.

Meanwhile, Unibank says that the owner of Old Erivan has organized this campaign against the bank so as not to pay the loan.