ArmInfo. MP Hayk Gevorgyan's statement that the Araratcement plant cost Gagik Tsarukyan $ 200,000 was at least unfair from the point of view of presenting facts. The MP from the Prosperous Armenia faction Iveta Tonoyan stated this on April 25 at a briefing in the National Assembly.
She noted that she now has in her hands the documents on the sale of the company, which she can provide to journalists. "MP Gevorgyan mentioned only the second paragraph, according to which $ 200,000 was allocated for privatization. At the same time, the latter kept silent about the fact that there is a third paragraph in the document, followed by all other financial issues, in particular, the repayment of the debt accumulated by the company 6 million 866 thousand dollars, and so on. Thus, as you can see, in general, privatization cost Tsarukyan more than $ 10 million. I am not talking about a number of investment programs that will be implemented in the near future, "Tonoyan said.
At the same time, the MP categorically disagreed with the fact that the representatives of their faction stubbornly uphold the interests of Tsarukyan. "There is nothing of the kind and it cannot be. We always express our opinion on a particular issue, regardless of whether it concerns representatives of our faction or not. We carefully study and evaluate the draft laws, based on the interests of our citizens. The whole thing is that in our country there is so total unemployment, and the actions of the authorities can exacerbate the situation. So, in this matter we are only interested in the lagging rights of our citizens, "concluded Tonoyan.
In turn, the head of the permanent parliamentary commission on economic issues, Babken Tunyan, noted that taking a decision, members of the My Step faction, of which he is a member, are guided solely by the interests of the citizens of Armenia. "We never wanted this issue to go on a personal plane. We simply see no reason why we should introduce a duty on imported clinker," the MP stressed.
According to him, there is reason to believe that the cost of cement is too high. "Moreover, the government has already made a concession to Araratcement plant in 2016. Namely, they have been forgiven taxes and fines of 500 million drams. But we cannot constantly help the state to the detriment of the plant," the MP said, assuring that he and his associates are guided by the economic interests of Armenia. "And no matter how much indirect pressure is exerted on us, we still will not move away from our principles," the MP stressed. He stated that the leadership of "Araratcement" itself does not want to go for constructive and mainly transparent cooperation. "They respond to our proposals with personal insults. If they have nothing to hide, let them open accounting, conduct an independent audit, let them check and see what has happened over the past 17 years," said the MP.
He also added that it is necessary to conduct an independent audit in order to understand at what tax rate Armenian enterprises can work with profit. Head of the "Bright Armenia" party, Edmon Maarukyan, considered that a banal clash of interests was clearly observed in this area. "One of the factions persistently and consistently protects the interests of its leader. This whole situation is simply amazing. We believe that the draft law is incomplete, we have no personal interests," Marukyan concluded.
To note, owner of the Araratcement plant, head of the Prosperous Apmenia party, MP Gagik Tsarukyan expressed his extreme dissatisfaction with the fact that the government did not raise tax rates on imports of cheap clinker from Iran, which is the main raw material for cement production. According to Tsarukyan, this beats the interests of the domestic producer, and therefore he has to make reductions in the Araratcement plant. He also accused the head of the parliamentary economic commission Babken Tunyan of pursuing personal interests in this matter, since his relative is one of the clinker importers. The ruling <My step> bloc saw blackmail in the actions of Tsarukyan and his team, dictated by the desire of the MP to get personal gain.