Armenian government recovers millions in fight against corruption

As a result of the ongoing fight against corruption and the activities of the shadow economy in Armenia, the current government has been able to recover 22 billion 622 million drams (around USD 47 million) and return it to the state treasury.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the amount was recovered after a month and a half of criminal cases launched by the country’s law enforcement agencies. All the cases concerned tax issues and evasion.

Pashinyan emphasized that this does not even include cases of illegal enrichment or misappropriation.

“We will return serious means to the state treasury, we will restore the damage caused to the state to the very end and we do not intend to retreat from our promises. We are glad that government bodies are taking a coordinated approach in this matter.”

Chairman of the Committee on State Revenues David Ananyan stated that the uncovering of corruption scandals continues:

“Inspections of 73 economic entities recovered 22 billion 622 million drams, and the sum seems to keep growing. Eight hundred million drams [more than USD 1.5 million] has already been returned to the treasury. Another 12.5 billion drams [more than USD 26 million] has been presented for crediting to the treasury, and 7 billion drams [about USD 14.5 million] are still being examined by investigative services. The amount may increase as well.”  

The state intends to use 10 billion drams [about USD 20 million] to develop rural areas. PM Pashinyan says that the people must feel real changes in their lives:

“Apart from changes in the country’s atmosphereand the fight against corruption, the population must see results in the rural areas too. Considering that subventions [monetary assistance provided to local authorities by the state -ed] are provided with co-financing from the communities themselves, it is expected that about 30 billion drams [about USD 62 million] will be invested in the rural areas. These are serious amounts that will allow us to achieve noticeable changes.”