Pashinyan Wants to Find Out How Much Money Armenia’s Senior Officials Actually Have

Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition lawmaker with the Armenian National Congress parliamentary faction, offered today to create an ad hoc committee which would look into the sources of income of Armenia’s high-ranking officials and their immediate relatives.

Presenting his plan at a sitting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, Pashinyan stated that the recently introduced mandatory tax of 1000 drams, which, incidentally, Pashinyan has voted for, has shown that “the state does not have the financial resources to carry out its functions because the money goes elsewhere.”

The committee’s findings, the lawmaker added, would finally answer the question Armenia’s citizens have long been asking: how much money or property have Armenian officials accumulated during their tenure? The current procedure of declaration of senior officials’ property and income, according to Pashinyan, sheds no light on the issue as “there is no way to check whether the information submitted by officials corresponds to the truth.” Moreover, the procedure does not include submission of information on offshore activity or recently obtained property.

Several Republican lawmakers, among them Hovhannes Sahakyan, were quick to denounce Pashinyan’s suggestion, calling it a “pre-election stunt.” The oppositionist, however, did not deny that this initiative was related to his general political activity.

“Elections are a discussion of political content. What else should we do: distribute rice and candy among voters?” Pashinyan countered, shortly before the sitting, nevertheless, voted against the creation of the ad hoc committee.