For 6 days now, truckloads of 400 tons of "humanitarian aid" sent from Armenia to Karabakh have been waiting opposite the Lachin checkpoint.

There are many noteworthy points in this political show, among which the Spayka company, which transports "humanitarian cargo" to the territory of Azerbaijan, stands out.

Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated why the 400-ton "humanitarian cargo" was entrusted to this company and the company's activities in general.

About the crimes of Spayka in Karabakh

During the 44-day war (October 10, 2020), it was reported that civilian trucks carrying weapons to Armenia were detained at the Georgia-Armenia border (source). The article reported that the military automatic control systems were transported by civilian trucks owned by the Armenian transport company Spayka. A vehicle with military equipment was found behind a cargo trailer covered with civilian packages. This shows that the Armenian authorities have continuously violated the ban imposed by Georgia on the transportation of military cargo through its territory.

Another fact. During the war, Pashinyan met with well-known Armenian businessmen, one of whom was David Ghazarian, the head of Spayka. Later it was revealed that Pashinyan asked the businessman to keep the corpses of the Armenian soldiers killed in Karabakh in the company's refrigerators. At that time there was a scandal in Armenia regarding the storage of corpses of soldiers in mobile refrigerators. The residents of the city filmed the mobile refrigerators belonging to Spayka parked near the Metsamor morgue. It was exposed that the bodies of Armenian soldiers killed in Karabakh were in those refrigerators. Residents of Metsamor said that there was no more room left in the morgue for storing corpses. (source)

The most complete information about the illegal activities of Spayka in Karabakh was reflected in the media statement issued by the company in March 2021.

The transportation the company carried out in Karabakh during the war was mentioned in the statement. It is clear from the statement that the company carried out transportation from Moscow and Yerevan to Khankandi from September 28 to November 9, 2020, at its own expense. The goods brought to Karabakh included food products, medicines, special equipment collected in the company's auto-repair shops, as well as UAZ cars imported from Russia. In addition, mobile refrigerators were handed over to the illegal entity. These vehicles were intended for the transportation of the dead bodies of Armenian soldiers.

In this part of the statement, the company's employees admit that they fought as part of illegal military formations: "Unfortunately, 4 employees of our company were killed during the war. Two of them were drivers," the statement says.

In November 2019, Arayik Harutyunyan, one of the leaders of the terrorist regime in Karabakh (he had not yet been "elected" to the illegal position), told the press that he had reached an agreement with the president of Spayka David Ghazaryan on cooperation in Karabakh. It was understood from Harutyunyan's statement that he not only knows Spayka closely, but also has interests in the work of this company. "Spayka is not only a logistics company. It is one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in Armenia and one of the largest exporters to Europe, the CIS and the Gulf countries," he advertised the company.

About the company Spayka and its owner who finds a common language with everyone

Spayka is the leading freight forwarding company in Armenia. It was founded in 2001 by businessman David Ghazarian. In 2007, the subsidiary company Greenproduct was founded and started exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Russia, other CIS countries, and Europe. In 2009, the Araratfruit trademark was created. The company has a fleet of more than 200 Volvo trucks. In addition, Spayka is the official distributor of Volvo, Carrier, Transicold, Krone, and Schmitz Cargobull companies in Armenia. source

After Pashinyan came to power, the company's problems began. In April 2019, the State Revenue Committee of Armenia arrested David Ghazarian, the head of Spayka, on charges of tax evasion and large-scale damage to the state. The website of the committee states that in 2014 and 2015, the management of Spayka LLC imported cheese, pears, apples, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes and other goods from non-EU European countries, including Poland and Belgium, to Armenia through Georgia. Between 01.01.2015 and 11.01.2016, the company submitted documents containing the actual description, weight, value, country of origin, suppliers, buyers and other information of the imported goods to the customs authorities of Georgia. However, the goods were transferred to Armenia from customs with false documents, more precisely, as goods exempted from value-added tax (for example, fertilizer). As a result, imported goods were exempted from customs and other duties.

During the investigation, the investigators proved the committed crime with irrefutable facts. The head of Spayka David Ghazarian first denied this information, ridiculed the investigation and the investigators, and said that he was not guilty. However, at the end of the 2-month prison sentence, he changed his mind, admitted himself guilty and said that he was ready to pay the damages and fulfill additional tax obligations. He was released from jail after posting a large bail. After Ghazarian was released from prison, 5.5 billion drams were paid to the state budget immediately, and the remaining 2.5 billion drams were paid in installments.

So, who helped the company to violate the law in 2014-2018? In the Armenian media, the company's ability to find a common language with anyone in the leadership in Armenia is cited as the reason for the company's business progressing at an increasing pace. Thus, it has been repeatedly emphasized that this company played the role of "helper farm" of former president Robert Kocharyan's son Sedrak Kocharyan in 2009-2013, and Mikael Minasyan, the son-in-law of former president Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia's ambassador to the Vatican in 2013-2018. It is reported that Minasyan acquired 49% of the company's shares through an offshore scheme. (source)

Ghazarian's release from prison on bail attracted the attention of the Armenian media. In July 2019, an employee of the State Revenue Committee announced to the press that after David Ghazarian paid 1 billion drams to a "single account", the arrest warrant issued against him was dropped and he was released. This was met with surprise in the public. After this incident, the Armenian media asked, "For what did David Ghazarian pay 1 billion drams?" they pointed to the legalization of bribery in the new administration of Armenia. Later, it will become clear that the ownership of the company simply changed hands - after the end of Serzh Sargsyan's dictatorship in Armenia, a new owner - Nikol Pashinyan - appeared on the scene. Unlike his predecessors, Pashinyan took over the company with the help of law enforcement agencies.

An article published in the Armenian media states that the criminal case against the director of the company was actually stopped after Pashinyan's request to hide the dead soldiers in the refrigerator was fulfilled. After that, rumors began to spread that this is why the company began to support Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and transported its employees to Pashinyan's rallies by bus.

After this incident, the Kazakhstan-based Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) withdrew the planned $100 million financing due to the fact of tax fraud.

In general, the name Spayka has been involved in many negative events. One of them is that the company is the number 1 monopolist of fresh fruit and vegetable business in Armenia.

A 2017 article on oc-media.org titled "Armenian Apricot Mafia" states: "Armenia's apricot growers have enjoyed a bountiful season but are not reaping the rewards of their labor. They say Spayka, an exporter allegedly linked to the president's son-in-law, has captured the market and is abusing its power." In addition, small Armenian exporters of apricots to Russia claim that Spayka has closed access to other apricot exporters from Armenia, the largest wholesale markets in Krasnodar, Roza Vetrov and Khutor Lenina. These markets now only accept products from Spayka.

Spayka has 2 main bases in Russia (in Krasnodar and Moscow) and 2 large partners (one of them is the large wholesale chain Magnit). The owner of the Magnit network was the president of the Krasnodar football club, Armenian national Sergei Galitsky, until 2 years ago.

Another partner of Spayka is Ameriabank. Ameriabank acted as the main financial partner of the new factory of Spayka Agro-holding for the production of cheese and other dairy products and invested $15 million in the investment program of the factory. (source) This is the bank of Russian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, and after the Troika Landromat revelation, he bought this bank and used it for money laundering and other criminal activities. (source)

Apparently, the choice of the operator of the cargo sent from Armenia to Karabakh under the name of "humanitarian aid" is not accidental. This company operated illegally in Karabakh, transported weapons and ammunition during the war, and cooperated with criminals such as Kocharyan, Sargsyan, Harutyunyan and Vardanyan. The named persons behind the participation of the company controlled by Pashinyan in this provocation are clearly visible, especially after the meeting of the foreign ministers of both countries in Moscow.