Manoukians In London

[Arture Kouyoumdjian]

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM?

[America-Hye]

They have a huge fortune. One of the wealthiest Armenian famliies in the world today. Have under-written some major Armenan philanthropies.

[ED]

which Manougians are you talking about AH, Alex/Marrie AGBU? or there is also Alen Manougian in France who are very well known, Edited April 3, 2004 by Edward

[Sasun]

I think he means Vache Manoukian who originally got rich in an Arab country (forget which one) selling overpriced lions and stuff like that to the king/prince.

[MosJan]

selling overpriced lions ???

 

Ahhha ~~ hima haskatsa te inchpes kareli e HAr@stanal !!!

[Arpa]

I think he means Vache Manoukian who originally got rich in an Arab country (forget which one) selling overpriced lions and stuff like that to the king/prince.

Yes he is.

There is very little on the internet except that he Opened one of the first international banks in Yerevan, HSBC, and the Coca Cola bottling. As to his involvement in Arab business, I think it was his business doings with the Sultan of Brunei (you may search using "manoukian brunei" or "manoukian HSBC" etc.) Some time time ago there was a big banking scandal involving Indian/Pakistani(??) people.

 

Here is the latest about him dated 3/19/04

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www.armenialiberty.org

By Atom Markarian

 

The government will seek a court ruling allowing the expropriation of a dilapidated hotel in downtown Yerevan privatized by a leading Diaspora Armenian businessman in 1997, a senior official said on Friday.

 

David Vartanian, the head of the Department on State Property Management, accused the London-based tycoon Vache Manoukian of failing to honor his contractual obligation to rebuild the Sevan hotel within seven years. He told RFE/RL that the privatization agency will file a lawsuit to the Armenian Economic Court later this year asking it to end Manoukian’s ownership of the potentially lucrative property.

 

Located in the heart of Yerevan, Sevan used to be a major hotel in Soviet times but fell into disrepair in the 1990s. Manoukian bought it at a knock-down price with a pledge of substantial investments that were supposed to turn it into a Western-style facility.

 

But with practically no construction work carried out since then, the building has been reduced to little more than ruins, resembling earthquake-zone rubble. Its bleak façade increasingly contrasts with the city center’s rapidly changing look.

 

Officials say Manoukian argues that city architects have not allowed him to completely tear down the building and construct a new one in its place. The Lebanese-born businessman, who also has other business interests in Armenia, is said to have told the government that Sevan’s façade is too shaky to be preserved.

 

The planned court action is another indication of Manoukian’s deepening rift with the current Armenian authorities and President Robert Kocharian in particular. Once a leading Diaspora partner of Armenia’s leaders, Manoukian reportedly fell out with Kocharian shortly after the politically motivated sacking in April 2000 of Armen Sarkisian, the Armenian ambassador to Britain. Sarkisian, who is seen as a close associate of Manoukian, still lives and works in London.

 

Meanwhile, Yerevan’s sole remaining state-owned hotel was sold to a Russian company last week in a deal approved by the cabinet of ministers. According to Vartanian, the Caucasian Communication Group is to pay $3.8 million for the Dvin hotel, one of the biggest in the country, and invest $30 million in its reconstruction over the next five years.

Edited April 3, 2004 by Arpa

[Arpa]

Here is another story that is hardly endearning and comlimentary.

 

Gambling foe asks for investigation into racetrack owner

Date entered: 23/07/2003

Source: The Associated Press

 

An outspoken Senate foe of gambling has asked Gov. Ed Rendell to order an investigation into the finances of the owner of the Philadelphia Park racetrack, questioning the business practices that have allowed the track to avoid paying much in federal and state income taxes.

 

Sen. Gibson Armstrong, R-Lancaster, in a letter to Rendell and Revenue Secretary Gregory Fajt, asked for the investigation as part of a background check ahead of the possible legalization of slot-machine operations at the state's racetracks, which would almost certainly enrich racetrack owners.

 

Citing news articles in recent years in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Armstrong noted that the track's owner, Greenwood Racing Inc., reports little in annual track profits after debt transactions largely with overseas affiliates or related parties.

 

A 1998 review of financial and court documents by the Inquirer show that Lebanese businessman Watche A. Manoukian has used the Bensalem racetrack as the hub of an expanding American gambling empire that ships tens of millions of dollars overseas - virtually tax free - to a family company in Liechtenstein, a country renowned as a tax haven. A follow-up story by the Inquirer last year showed the pattern continuing through the end of 2001.

 

Manoukian's California-based attorney, Terrence Everett, declined comment when contacted by telephone - "I don't comment on allegations that I have not seen nor have I reviewed" - and did not respond after a copy of Armstrong's letter was faxed to him.

 

Bob Green, president of Greenwood Racing, was in London and not immediately available for comment, a secretary at the company said. Kate Philips, a spokeswoman for Rendell, who supports the legalization of slot machines, said both the governor's office and the Department of Revenue had received the letter, which was dated Monday.

 

"We will review it and decide whether further action is warranted," Philips said.

 

Bob Thompson, counsel to Armstrong, said the senator had also asked the office of U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum to contact the FBI about the matter.

 

Manoukian, the majority shareholder of Greenwood, benefits from Philadelphia Park's debt because companies that he and his family own act as mortgagee and mortgagor, controlling both ends of most of the track's debt transactions, the Inquirer reported.

 

"Each year the interest and penalties are paid on this loan ... and the result is a massive 'write-off' for Philadelphia Park in taxable income," Armstrong wrote. He added that laws in Liechtenstein make it impossible to find out details about the loan.

 

The source of most of the track's lucrative tax write-offs is a $55 million mortgage acquired for $27 million in 1993 by Vectura Establishment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenwood headquartered in Liechtenstein and controlled by one of Manoukian's brothers, Varoujan, the Inquirer said.

 

From 1996 to 2001, Greenwood paid $85 million in interest - or 15 percent of total revenues during those six years - to Vectura, the paper said.

 

Despite reporting $546 million in income during those years, Greenwood paid no federal income taxes and $300,000 to Pennsylvania, citing track profits of only $6 million.

 

In comparison, Penn National Gaming Inc., the publicly traded company that owns Pocono Downs racetrack near Scranton and Penn National Race Course near Harrisburg, reported revenues of $111 million in 1997, paying $2.3 million in state and federal taxes.

 

Among other gambling interests, Greenwood owns six Philadelphia-area off-track wagering clubs, the telephone-betting system Phonebet, and riverfront property in Philadelphia purchased in 1996 in anticipation that riverboat gambling would be legalized on the Delaware.

 

Manoukian, a London resident, made his fortune as a purchasing agent for the royal family of Brunei.

Edited April 3, 2004 by Arpa

[Arpa]

And now a good story.

=======

 

 

Mr. and Ms. Vatche Manoukian to be Honored at AGBU Banquet in New York

 

Date: 10/18/2002

 

Contact: David Zenian

Phone: (202) 879-6713

Fax: (202) 879-6715

Email: agbuais@pressroom.com

 

 

New York, October 18 - From pharmaceuticals to soft drinks, from educational to religious institutions, the name of Mr. Vatche Manoukian has become synonymous with not just philanthropy but model in active participation in building a stronger Armenia and Diaspora.

 

Mr. Manoukian, a Lebanese-born London resident, has given generously to more than a dozen institutions, from the Armenian General Benevolent Union to the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias, to schools, churches and his ancestral homeland - Armenia.

 

In Armenia, Mr. Manoukian was one of the first - and few - Diaspora Armenians who invested in industry with the primary objective of creating jobs. As one Armenian diplomat said recently, " it is good that we have Coca Cola, medical production, or a British bank in Yerevan, but what is more important is the employment opportunities these enterprises have created - something which Mr. Manoukian has done time and time again through his well-thought out investments."

 

A successful businessman, Mr. Manoukian's spirit of giving has only increased through the years, as have his ties with everything Armenian.

 

In the Diaspora, Mr. Manoukian personally and through the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Foundation has reached out on more than one occasion to help institutions which are the foundations of the Armenian nation - schools, churches, scholarship think tanks, publications, social endeavors, and projects which are not only aimed at Armenians, but also help non-Armenians understand the very nature and roots of this old nation which was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion more than 1700 years ago.

 

In London, it was thanks to a generous donation by Mr. Manoukian that valuable Armenian historical and religious documents and manuscripts were displayed by The British Museum. The same is true with his recent endowment to Armenia Service Project at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

 

Mr. Manoukian, in the true Armenian family tradition, made sure to perpetuate the memory of his father through the reconstruction of the beautiful Saint Yeghishe Armenian Church complex of London and the Yeghishe Manoukian School in Lebanon.

 

The Armenian General Benevolent Union, which has always encouraged philanthropy and the active involvement in the betterment of Armenians world-wide, will honor Mr. Vatche and Ms. Tamar Manoukian at its Gala Banquet Oct. 26 at the Hotel Pierre in New York in appreciation of his life-long commitment to Armenian causes.

[Arpa]

So, based on the above stories can we rebaptize Vatche with a new name as the "Armenian Robin Hood", taking from the rich and giving to the poor?

Edited April 3, 2004 by Arpa

[bellthecat]

In London, it was thanks to a generous donation by Mr. Manoukian that valuable Armenian historical and religious documents and manuscripts were displayed by The British Museum. The same is true with his recent endowment to Armenia Service Project at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

I think that this might actually be a reference to his sponsorship of the "Treasures from the Ark" exhibition at the British Library in 2001.

 

I wonder how much money you need to give to the AGBU to get a "banquet" in your honour?

[America-Hye]

Of course, I was speaking of Vatche MANOUKIAN, not the MANOOGIAN family of Alex MANOOGIAN. The thread title clearly stated MANOUKIAN of London. MANOOGIAN's were originally from Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA. Edited April 4, 2004 by America-Hye