As we know, “Hetq” newspaper has published the names of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia who have appeared in Panama documents. Aravot.am talked to economist Vahagn Khachatryan on this matter. He noted that this is a global problem and it is no coincidence that yesterday, three hundred prominent economists, including Nobel Laureate winners, have applied to the leaders of their countries to eliminate the offshore notion in the territories of their countries, “It’s not that we are talking only about the Virgin Islands, Cyprus and so on but it exists even in the United States of America, Switzerland, England, Germany, in other words, these opportunities are given in these countries too. Once, most likely, the main goal was to ensure investments in these countries.”
Vahagn Khachatryan noted that if earlier it was done legally to obtain independence, now as there are various international agreements that solve not only issues of local importance but also of international importance. Now, there is no such importance, therefore, the economists have come to an opinion that the offshore areas are already having a negative impact on the global economy. Vahagn Khachatryan noted that in connection with the Panama documents, it was revealed that the terrorist organizations are able to avoid the international sanctions by the offshore zones and do what they intend, in other words, it has become a means of money obtained illegally, “A good goal served for a bad deed, and we still are facing this problem because we see mainly the businesses that are at risk, such as mining industry where all except one organization are registered in offshore zones.
Our offshore scandal had a unique history with which we began getting into the details, associated with Tigran Sargsyan, Paylak Hayrapetyan but in fact, this is the scheme: it allows people without mentioning their names or any details, for example, the Panama’s case was very interesting, now, many details are written that you can enter a building where there are thousands of companies, you can register a company in your name or someone’s else name without any additional information, become a taxpayer of Panama but at the same time be able to make economic transactions. Certainly, I will wait until the Panama documents are published to the end because now they are preliminary.”
Vahagn Khachatryan considers that it is necessary to differentiate one circumstance when businessmen and functionaries appear in this list. “If the businessmen can be understood in some place, it is their right, every country should try to close this source by its laws, and secondly, the functionaries which are unacceptable. And it turns out that government officials who have different problems in their countries mostly begin taking advantage of these islands, they cannot publish their revenues, taxes but are involved in illegal economic activities. Business is a little different, at least in our country, the business and government are intertwined and do not differ from each other. In that sense if you are interested in business, you are also interested in government officials, this is our country now, and its end should come too.”
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Vahagn Khachatryan is sure that this is not the whole list, according to him, if Panama is not put an end, then the Armenian preferences are changed to other zones such as Switzerland. We must still wait. Referring to the impact on the Armenian market, Vahagn Khachatryan said that first of all the business will be open, the government and the business will be separated, “In other words, we will have the chance also to increase our budget revenues additionally. There is an explanation that in many cases the offshore is justified that a person comes from offshore to make investments in your country but this gives a short-term effect, in the long-run it creates a non-competitive atmosphere in the whole economy, and the one who gets an advantage does not depend on his business skills, it is related to this type of factors: uncontrollable resources, unpaid taxes, in other words, unequal conditions. In the long-run, years later you see that there are serious problems in your country.”
To the observation of Aravot.am that the list also included Ruben Vardanyan’s name, Vahagn Khachatryan said that it is already up to the Russian Federation, “But in all cases, I think that there will be a need for further explanation. If they are going there to make transactions there, then something is wrong. But in all cases, I do not think that appearing in this list is pleasant, especially when there are people from Russia about whom the president of their country gave an explanation whose name is associated with billions of dollars. Now, these people have timely done this move and have received relevant business interests and business income. Now if problems arise, they are also obligated to give its explanations.” Vahagn Khachatryan believes that no need to become a judge, each one should be estimated in its own way, for instance, the publication of Panama document, the prime minister of Iceland resigned while the prime minister of the Great Britain did not, “We should not fall into temptations, it prevents to be objective.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
