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The improvements in Armenia can be achieved with responsible measures against officials who solicit and take bribes rather than with crackdown on businesses who pay them, U.S. businessman David Bequette who currently works in Armenia, told Wednesday at the round table against corruption in Yerevan.

According to him, despite the fact that it is very easy to register a business in Armenia, things may not be very smooth further down the road.

In July 2012, Bequette co-founded “Green Bean” coffee shop in Armenia with the emphasis on the eco-friendly practices of goods selection and catering. According to him, the company tries to be just as clean in business environment. Several months ago, one of two cafes of the new franchise (both of which are located in Yerevan) was fined for inappropriate room planning.

“Instead of warning you they aim to hit you hard. Fines should depend on the size of the company, because now they are large enough to doom a startup company,” Bequette told.

Furthermore, the inspector hinted at “arranging things” to dodge the fine, paying a smaller amount.

“We told we don’t know what that means, we’re going to pay our fine,” the businessman added.

Dealing with customs is also less than perfect. Officers distrust invoice prices, and calculate duties from price lists which don’t always follow the market in a timely manner. Products stay at the customs warehouse, incurring extra fees, Bequette told.

“I’m not sure whether this is still the case for our latest batch of goods, I hope this will change. In addition, about 20% of our sugar is destroyed. Customs officers tell us this is due to vaporizing moisture in sugar, but there’s no way for us to disprove that,” he told Armenia News – NEWS.am.

On top of all that, state bodies still require a complicated paperwork.

“This is 21st century, year 2015. We have computers around. But I have to sign and stamp every receipt, thousands of them, and then to double-check them,” he added.

The bottom line: current system is very complicated, as if designed for a small business to fail, he concluded. At the same time, David Bequette mentioned that businesses need to do their own “homework” and learn legal and technical requirements to run their business. However, the elimination of the corruption is the job of the state, not of the businesses.

“We need the system being fixed, not the civilians being fixed,” he stressed.

The event was organized by Transparency International Armenia and attended by state officials, including the Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Krmoyan, who is the national anti-corruption coordinator.

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