Coffee imports

Here is an all-too-common story, from ArmenPress.

The company Royal Armenia imports coffee into Armenia, 9,000 tons annually of the stuff in the form of coffee beans. They have been complaining recently about a bias against them by customs guards on the Georgian-Armenian border.

Chief managers of Royal Armenia company dealing with imports of coffee to Armenia, accused today customs officials of bias and discrimination against their company, a practice which they said was started from 2003 spring. The managers claimed that customs officials demand 50 and even 100 percent higher customs fees than the real cost of the coffee suggests. Company managers said they had asked a local court to protect them against such treatment and despite three verdicts issued by it, which deemed the customs officials' treatment illegal, the practice is going on. "We announce officially that we are not going any longer to work according "the rules" imposed by customs officials and we have also decided to speak out about corruption practices corroding the customs service," the company's managers announced during a special news conference. A lawyer of the company said also that customs officers have been refusing to let through a batch of 93 tons of coffee beans for two weeks already forcing the company to pay $50 in penalties for each of the five containers. The company has sent letters of complaint to the president, prime minister, justice and foreign ministers.

Illegal? Certainly. Short-sighted? Naturally. As if importing goods into Armenia isn't hard enough, companies have to deal with corrupt officials and a lack of accountability.

Posted by Matt on July 27, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend