The GeoProMining Gold LLC, which lost the vast majority of Armenia’s Sotk gold mine after the capitulation signed by Nikol Pashinyan, “has forgotten” about the losses incurred after its main shareholder Roman Trotsenko cut a “corrupt political deal” with the Armenian government, Pastinfo reports.
As a result of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, a part of the Sotk mine fell under the control of Azerbaijan. In particular, Anglo Asian Mining PLC, a UK-based holding company, has stated that more than 75% of the mine is under the control of the Azerbaijani military and GeoProMining Gold does not carry out any activity in Sotk.
Experts say that GeoProMining has all the legal grounds to apply to the International Court of Arbitration, as it has suffered significant material damage as a result of the actions of the Armenian government. Speaking to Sputnik Armenia, Sargis Grigoryan, head of the GPartners Law Firm, did not rule out the possibility that investors could file huge compensation claims against Armenia in international courts as part of international agreements. Moreover, the amount of possible compensation demanded, according to him, may range from $3 billion to $5 billion, which will be paid at the expense of Armenian taxpayers.
And suddenly a redistribution of business took place. Under highly suspicious circumstances, most of the shares of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) were sold to Roman Trotsenko without the knowledge and consent of the other GeoProMining Gold shareholders, which seemingly overshadowed the damage caused by the loss of the Sotk mine.
On March 16, Pastinfo submitted a written inquiry to GeoProMining Gold Director Roman Khudoli over violations of the company’s rights due to the capitulation deal, damages suffered, and Sotk mine operation, however the company has nothing to say as a result of suspicious transactions related to ZCMC.
In particular, Pastinfo asked the company whether the interests and rights of GeoProMining Gold have been violated as a result of the implementation of the provisions enshrined in the November 9 statement of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, and the scale of the material losses it suffered. The news website also sought to reveal the official reason why the company did not make a claim to the relevant international financial institutions or the International Court of Arbitration against Armenia to get compensation, especially when, according to experts, the company had quite high chances to win the lawsuit. It also asked whether any issues related to the impossibility of operating the Sotk mine, compensation for damages, personnel maintenance and security provision while developing the mine had been discussed with the Armenian authorities in writing or verbally.
Pastinfo also tried to find out the reason for the “generosity” of the company that suffered great losses towards the Armenian government. The company was deprived of the opportunity to exploit 75% of the Sotk gold mine reserves, and, accordingly, the expected profits, but in parallel with the deal in September 2021, GeoProMining Gold announced that it would not cut jobs and after the ZCMC deal signed on September 30, it donated a large part of the newly acquired shares to the Armenian government.
“In addition, we reminded the company that the Azerbaijani leadership, who had been announcing plans to sue GeoProMining Gold over the Sotk mine development and waring about the environmental risks caused by the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine, stopped making such statements after the Industrial Company, a GeoProMining Armenia subsidiary, acquired a stake of ZCMC. We tried to find out what they attribute it to and whether any efforts have been made to normalize relations with Azerbaijan,” the news site said.
“Dragging its feet, the GeoProMining Gold LLC has avoided answering the mentioned questions, thus indirectly confirming our suspicions about the shady arrangements and a corrupt deal with the current Armenian authorities,” Pastinfo stressed.
It is worth noting that Russia’s former Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov, who owns 12.5% of the ZCMC shares, filed a lawsuit to a court in Syunik in August 2021, asking for a preference to acquire the ZCMC shares. The court not only agreed to hear the lawsuit but also applied a measure, seizing 75% of the shares of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine.
Later on September 30, the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to lift the ban on shares, and the GeoProMining Armenia subsidiary acquired them immediately after it. After the deal, Trotsenko granted 15 percent of the shares of the Molybdenum Combine to the Armenian government, Panorama reports.
