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11.19
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Friday August 3, 9:40 am Eastern Time
Bulgaria fund says paid AremisSoft $1.7 mln so far
SOFIA, August 3 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's health insurance fund on Friday said it has paid software maker AremisSoft Corp. about $1.7 million so far under a contract now being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The NASDAQ-listed company came under investigation after media reports questioned whether some of its contracts were worth what it claimed, including the Bulgarian deal.
AremisSoft last year reported revenues of $1.7 million and an additional $5.4 million from a deal with Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund. It had signed a contract in December 1999 to provide the fund with the software for the first two phases of building its information system.
``So far we have paid AremisSoft 3,661,900 levs ($1.657 million), which matches what has been found by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,'' a press official for the Bulgarian fund told Reuters.
``The total value of AremisSoft's contract is 7.78 million levs. The remaining will be paid when the contract is implemented,'' the press official said.
Vasco Kolev, general manager of AremisSoft's Bulgarian subisidary, said on Friday he could not add anything to a statement that the company had made on Tuesday out of New York.
COMPANY RESPONSE
On Tuesday, AremisSoft, whose shares have been halted from trading since early Monday, said it was cooperating with the SEC's investigation into the contract.
AremisSoft also said on Tuesday it had hired independent auditors, PKF, in connection with the investigation to review the payments that the company had received in 2000.
PKF confirmed that AremisSoft had received $1.7 million from the contract, but is still seeking additional information to confirm that the company received an additional $5.4 million, which it recognised as revenue in 2000, AremisSoft said.
Questions over the value of the contract have led to legal wrangling between AremisSoft and some media outlets and hedge fund firms.
AremisSoft has said, meanwhile, it would bid in a new tender expected later this year by the Bulgarian fund for the third and fourth phases of building its information system. The value of the new tender is said to be around $8.0 million.
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Kolev said he believed that confusion surrounding the value of the first contract would not affect AremisSoft's chances of winning in the new tender.
($ equals 2.21 Bulgarian levs) |
