Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

The project was implemented in collaboration with Opening Extractives (OE) program. 

The Project main goal was to tackle opaque company ownership in the natural resources and extractives sector through public beneficial ownership data analysis and use.

For this purpose, FOICA will.

• Build the capacity of CSOs and journalists to use and analyze data to improve natural resource governance;
• Foster usage of the available data by the media and other CSO groups who will investigate and research particular cases to inform the public;
• Develop and communicate to the public relevant insights on the impact of beneficial ownership transparency in the extractive industries.

Тhe Project was supported by Open Ownership. The Project started on 15 August 2022 and ended on 28 February 2023.

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• Women in the beneficial ownership transparency reform։ An open talk with women implemented BO reform
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Journalistic materials prepared within the framework of the project.

1. Nara Martirosyan, Civic.am - Anna Grigoryan, deputy of the Hayastan bloc, has not submitted the project for the construction of her HPP in Syunik to the PSC for the second time, the license has been suspended.

This story is related to the family business of MP Anna Grigoryan. "Jimel" LLC was supposed to build small hydroelectric power plants and generate electricity. However, in the phase of obtaining the relevant permits, "Jimel" failed to present the projects, and the license granted to it has been suspended. Within the framework of the publication, the journalist studied the company's declaration about the real owners and built the report on it.

2. Nara Martirosyan, Civic.am - It's been almost 10 months since the monopoly of the National Electric Power Company was eliminated. 40 electricity producers and 18 consumers have entered the liberalized market. Who are the real competitors of HEC?

With this publication, Nara Martirosyan referred to the liberalization of the electricity market and the players who entered this market. These companies can act as electricity suppliers. All data were taken from ownership declarations submitted by the companies and the electronic register of legal entities. In some cases it was revealed that the companies were connected to businessmen and former officials.

3. Nina Mamajanyan, cvmedia.am - In recent years, the number of companies expressing a desire to search for gold has increased in Lori Marz

The publication refers to geological prospecting activities in Armenia’s Lori region for the purpose of exploiting metal mines. The author found out which companies initiated geological works and the companies that they are affiliated with. One of them, for example, is related to Czech businessmen. As for the other case, the company was affiliated with the "Lidian" company, which operates the Amulsar gold mine. The journalist studied the ownership declarations for all companies.

4. Nina Mamajanyan, cvmedia.am - How settlements with metal mines were not affected

CV media also published an article about the mines' impact on nearby communities. In 2021, the Armenian government initiated changes by which a part of the royalties paid to the budget by mining companies will be directed to communities and community projects. Surprisingly, a number of communities and administrative districts that had mines operating in their territories, were not included among the impacted communities. The author tried to find out the reason.

5. Karine Darbinyan, Ampop Media-Armenian drug importers and producer-exporters among 1000 large taxpayers

This article in "Ampop'' examines who owns the drug importing and manufacturing companies in Armenia. The author also provides information about the amount of taxes paid by these companies. The journalist obtained the information about the real owners from the declarations of the open ownership and other data from the register of legal entities.

6. Hayk Hovhannisyan, Civilnet.am - Which miners avoid revealing their beneficial owners
   Article published by "CivilNet" refers to mining companies operating in Armenia. The author of the article, Hayk Hovhannisyan, found out who are the owners of mines in Armenia, using the declarations of open ownership and intermediary companies. He found out that in many cases the mining companies presented incomplete and/or wrong data.
7. Mariam Tashchyan, Civilnet.am- Who are the beneficial owner of the TV companies? declared and "left out"

In the article published on "CivilNet", Mariam Tashchyan tried to find out who are the real owners of TV stations in Armenia. In this regard, she examined the open ownership declarations of TV stations. Additionally, she was able to find out which television companies were affiliated with which people and political powers.