YEREVAN. - The offshore companies shouldn’t be banned from investing in Armenia, Vache Gabrielyan, Armenian Vice PM and Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms, said in the parliament Wednesday.
Investments to Armenia, Russia and similar countries to a large extent come from companies registered in offshore. Limiting their arrival in Armenia is to merely interfere with the investments.
One of the latest examples of a large transaction in offshore was the privatization of Vorotan Complex of HPPs, when the buyer, the U.S. Contour Global company, acted through its subsidiary in Luxembourg. It is to be noted that Contour Global is a very well-known company, which has been listed at a stock market, being supported by the U.S. Government.
Simply in order to regulate the tax payments, they decided to make a transaction not through other subsidiaries, but through Luxembourg, the Vice PM said.
Similarly, one of the largest foreign investors in Russia is formally listed in Cyprus, mostly because it is more convenient for western companies to send money through Cyprus registration and tax regime, Gabrielyan added.
At the same time, the Government oversees that the actual investors identification be identified, especially in the financial sector, where Armenia is a party to a whole number of international agreements against money laundering.
“There is always a specific shareholder on the other side of the chain, who allows to identify himself,” the Minister added.
Responding to the query as to whether offshore doesn’t serve as a place of money laundering from Armenian and legal return of money, the Minister said that such facts are not subject to discussion.
