Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the Spayka company is blackmailing the government. My Step deputy Artak Manukyan told reporters in an interview that when people speak about not carrying out their duties of paying taxes and saying that they will not work, yes, that is blackmail. “We have laws which economists are obligated to comply to. This is the rule for everyone. Unlike the former authorities, who gave people the opportunity to find loopholes in the law, the current authorities will not tolerate such behavior.”
A reporter made a comment about how there were rules in the past which Spayka and all other companies followed, and it now seems that Spayka is being punished for following those rules. Manukyan said, “There is an important issue here. All of those rules were the result of not following the law. Now, which would you prefer: rules based off of agreements, or rules based off of the law? We need to make it so that no one has any privileges and so that everyone follows the law.”
Aravot Daily asked about how Bright Armenia leader Edmon Marukyan wrote on his Facebook page that if Pashinyan was supposed to catch the Spayka director, why did you he take a picture with him? Artak Manukyan said, “This is proof that there are no double standards or political subcontext in this situation. If we look at it from this perspective, it shows that everyone is equal under the law, and that no one gets privileges for taking pictures with the Prime Minister?”
