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Montreal - Monday, December 10, 2012 - Caldera Resources Inc. (the “Company” or “Caldera”), in its ongoing efforts to clarify the record and expose the nefarious and questionable tactics used by Global Gold Corporation (“GBGD”) and its CEO, Mr. Van Z. Krikorian, to push Caldera out of Armenia and the Marjan Project, publishes the following release.
Caldera had received a communiqué from the State Revenue Agency of the Republic of Armenia confirming that Global Gold Corporation's (“GBGD”) General Manager in Armenia, Mr. Ashot Poghosyan is under criminal investigation for financial crimes related to GBGD’s subsidiary which operates one of their gold properties in Armenia.
The letter signed by the Investigator, Mr. R. Mkrtchyan, states that:
“[o]n 17.03.2011 with the characters of the 1st part of 205 article of the criminal code of RA, according to activities of the director of «Mego Gold» LLC Ashot Poghossian which has entered obvious distorted data into the taxation documents, which are taxation basis and with this violated of paying large amount - 13.252.700 AMD tax, in the Investigation department of the State Revenue Agency of the Republic of Armenia has been initiated # 83156811 criminal case and on 21.03.2011 has been sent to the Criminal Department of the State Revenue Agency of Republic of Armenia.
Investigation of this criminal case is in process.”
Bill Mavridis, the President of Caldera commented: “While this communiqué dates back to July of 2011, I recently received new information from a third Party confirming that this criminal investigation, which began on March 23, 2011, has now morphed into a much larger investigation. The investigation now includes elements related to the misappropriation of millions of dollars of investor funds, which were destined for GBGD’s gold mining projects in Armenia.
“The source states that the investor funds were substantially misappropriated and partially embezzled at GBGD through the actions of Mr. Van Z. Krikorian, GBGD’s Chairman, CEO, and Corporate Counsel, by Mr. Ashot Poghosyan, GBGD’s General Manager in Armenia and by Mr. Jan Dulman, GBGD’s Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ian Hague, Member of the Board of Directors of GBGD and GBGD’s controlling shareholder, apparently supported the alleged misappropriations. Mr. Hague is also a founder of Firebird Management LLC ( http://www.fbird.com), a hedge fund manager operating out of New York, NY, which is a major investor of GBGD.”
Mr. Van Z. Krikorian is also an active member the Armenian Assembly of America (the “AAA”) and is currently a Trustee of the organization. The AAA (http://www.aaainc.org) is a non-partisan Armenian-American advocacy organization in the United States, which is supposed to promote public awareness of Armenian issues and assist in humanitarian and development programs in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, while strengthening the U.S. - Armenia relationships.
Mr. Mavridis added: “Since joining GBGD in 2003, I believe Mr. Van Krikorian has abused his position with the AAA, which is a tax-exempt charity, and used his contacts to influence political leaders and civil servants in Armenia to benefit his personal interests in GBGD. In 2007, Mr. Krikorian somehow was able to extract a mining license on the Marjan project without even having certified or approved reserves from the “GKZ”, as is required under Armenian legislation. Mr. Vardan Ayvazyan, a former Minister of the Government of Armenia and an elected Deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia and the Chair of the National Assembly Permanent Committee on the Economy, has called the Marjan mining license illegal.” (See NR of December 5, 2012 - Republic of Armenian Politician Claims The Marjan License is Illegal).
As an emerging democracy, Armenia grapples with corruption and on December 5, 2012 Transparency International (“TI”) issued its new global rankings. Based on its Corruption Perception Index (“CPI”), TI ranked Armenia 105th of 176 countries up from 129th of 183 countries in 2011. TI is a global NGO with 100 chapters around the world. In Armenia the chapter operates under the name, Anti-corruption Center of Armenia (http://transparency.am). The CPI ranking places Armenia at the same level with Mexico for 2012, but Armenia surpasses Russia, which ranks 133rd of 176 countries on the CPI (Canada is ranked 9th of 176 countries and the USA is ranked 19th of 176).
Mr. Van Z. Krikorian is also an active member the Armenian Assembly of America (the “AAA”) and is currently a Trustee of the organization. The AAA (http://www.aaainc.org) is a non-partisan Armenian-American advocacy organization in the United States, which is supposed to promote public awareness of Armenian issues and assist in humanitarian and development programs in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, while strengthening the U.S. - Armenia relationships.
Mr. Mavridis added: “Since joining GBGD in 2003, I believe Mr. Van Krikorian has abused his position with the AAA, which is a tax-exempt charity, and used his contacts to influence political leaders and civil servants in Armenia to benefit his personal interests in GBGD. In 2007, Mr. Krikorian somehow was able to extract a mining license on the Marjan project without even having certified or approved reserves from the “GKZ”, as is required under Armenian legislation. Mr. Vardan Ayvazyan, a former Minister of the Government of Armenia and an elected Deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia and the Chair of the National Assembly Permanent Committee on the Economy, has called the Marjan mining license illegal.” (See NR of December 5, 2012 - Republic of Armenian Politician Claims The Marjan License is Illegal).
As an emerging democracy, Armenia grapples with corruption and on December 5, 2012 Transparency International (“TI”) issued its new global rankings. Based on its Corruption Perception Index (“CPI”), TI ranked Armenia 105th of 176 countries up from 129th of 183 countries in 2011. TI is a global NGO with 100 chapters around the world. In Armenia the chapter operates under the name, Anti-corruption Center of Armenia (http://transparency.am). The CPI ranking places Armenia at the same level with Mexico for 2012, but Armenia surpasses Russia, which ranks 133rd of 176 countries on the CPI (Canada is ranked 9th of 176 countries and the USA is ranked 19th of 176).
TI defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. TI has issued several reports on Armenia over the years. In its reports it states that the Judiciary in Armenia is highly susceptible to political interference and that Armenians regard the law-enforcement and judicial systems as the most corrupt public institutions.
The Armenian Government led by President Serzh Sargsyan has attacked corruption, hence the noticeable improvement in ranking on the CPI from 2011 to 2012. Through His Excellency’s mandate and more recently in November 2012, the President has pledged to crack down on graft throughout his leadership. His Excellency has recently instructed the Armenian government to take “resolute” anti-graft measures so that Armenia can effect changes that are tangible and visible.
Mr. Mavridis concluded by stating: “While corruption has been tackled during President Sargsyan’s mandate, the fact is that corruption continues to exist in Armenia and I believe, Mr. Van Krikorian, GBGD’s CEO, is continuing to misuse his influence to attempt to delay or stop the criminal investigation, which by definition is a form of corruption.”
Further information on this matter can be viewed on our website www.calderaresources.com on the tab labeled News.
Material documents relating to the Arbitration case (No. 50 180 T 00674 10) filed by Caldera against Global Gold can be accessed on the Caldera website under the tab, Arbitration.
The Armenian Government led by President Serzh Sargsyan has attacked corruption, hence the noticeable improvement in ranking on the CPI from 2011 to 2012. Through His Excellency’s mandate and more recently in November 2012, the President has pledged to crack down on graft throughout his leadership. His Excellency has recently instructed the Armenian government to take “resolute” anti-graft measures so that Armenia can effect changes that are tangible and visible.
Mr. Mavridis concluded by stating: “While corruption has been tackled during President Sargsyan’s mandate, the fact is that corruption continues to exist in Armenia and I believe, Mr. Van Krikorian, GBGD’s CEO, is continuing to misuse his influence to attempt to delay or stop the criminal investigation, which by definition is a form of corruption.”
Further information on this matter can be viewed on our website www.calderaresources.com on the tab labeled News.
Material documents relating to the Arbitration case (No. 50 180 T 00674 10) filed by Caldera against Global Gold can be accessed on the Caldera website under the tab, Arbitration.
Cautionary Statement
The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made.
Additional information related to the Company is filed electronically on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For additional information:
Contact:
Bill Mavridis
President
Caldera Resources Inc.
1155 Rene-Levesque Blvd. West
Suite 2500
Montreal, Qc., H3B 2K4
Tel: 514-813-9200
new email: Bill.Mavridis@calderaresources.com
web site: http://www.calderaresources.com
The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made.
Additional information related to the Company is filed electronically on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For additional information:
Contact:
Bill Mavridis
President
Caldera Resources Inc.
1155 Rene-Levesque Blvd. West
Suite 2500
Montreal, Qc., H3B 2K4
Tel: 514-813-9200
new email: Bill.Mavridis@calderaresources.com
web site: http://www.calderaresources.com