“Many say as if businessmen who are subjected to tax fines are also subjected to persecution. Nobody says that the acting Prime Minister of the Republic invited the businessmen and said: dear businessmen, I do not know whatever and how many times a month, in what size of bags you have brought to the office of Prime Minister, but from now on you are exempt from all these duties”, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview at the parliament after the government plan voting.
“I asked them whether there was such a mechanism, they said there was, and told them they are free from such a mechanism. Nobody says the current government donated bags of money to these businessmen. Factually. That is, if they are exempt from the obligation to bring those bags of money to me, it means I have donated those bags of money to them”, added Nikol Pashinyan. The Prime Minister said that the part of the money that should be paid to the budget, should be paid, and the other part, he hopes that businessmen will invest not in Swiss banks but in the Armenian economy.
Let us remind that Republican members were talking about persecutions against the businessmen.
“De jure there are no monopolies in Armenia, and there will not be de facto soon either”, assured Nikol Pashinyan, adding that the magic wand of his government will continue its activity: “The magic wand is when business is set free from all corruption commitments, a large business will pay complete taxes. These are issues that have not been solved for 25 years since there is no magic wand. However, the current government has one”. Nikol Pashinyan says that today citizens feel the changes because they feel that they are the owners of their country.
One of the journalists asked whether according to the Prime Minister, the “Tsarukyan” alliance will gather “50 + 1” percent of votes, as the members and the leader of the alliance have such intentions. Nikol Pashinyan responded: “I am sure that as a result of extraordinary elections the people will not lose their victory, they will celebrate it again as they did as a result of the velvet revolution”. In response to the clarifying question, whether that means that “Tsarukyan” alliance will not receive “50+1” votes, Nikol Pashinyan said: “I mean what I said, not what I did not”.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
