Yesterday, the Estonian Financial Inspectorate fined “GILD Arbitrage Risk Capital Fund” 250,000 kroons (about $25,000) for providing its investors false information regarding its status in Armenia. The firm had declared that it had obtained licenses to operate mines in Armenia while in fact it had merely been granted exploratory permits.

Readers will remember that “Hetq” had published two articles regarding “GILD” (Fact or Fiction? – GILD Arbitrage Risk Capital Fund Claims 20 Million Euro Armenian Investment; What Has Become of GILD Arbitrage Fund’s Purported 20 Million Euro Investment in Armenia’s Mines?), noting the firm’s claim, published in its 2008 financial report to investors, that it had invested 20 million Euros in Armenia’s mining sector. “Hetq’s” coverage was picked up by the Estonian press but there was no official reaction here in Armenia.

Following up on the story, we were able to ascertain that the firm has registered several subsidiary holdings in Armenia via “Melorama Holding Ltd.”, and that some have obtained exploratory mining permits

“Hetq” has learned, through our Estonian newspaper colleague, that 15% of “Melorama” belongs to Davit Manukyan, the son of RoA Presidential Advisor Andranik Manukyan.

We will cover the activities of “GILD Arbitrage” in the coming editions of “Hetq”.