David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
44% of respondents of a public opinion poll conducted by the Caucasus Research Resources Center on “Perception of the Tax Administration” pointed out instances of bribery among taxmen and customs officers of Armenia. At the same time, only 23% of respondents think that Armenian businessmen bribe taxmen and customs officers. It is interesting that 6% of people didn’t want to answer the question; it means that businessmen are frightened. The results of the survey were put forward at a presentation organized by the USA Agency for International Development in Yerevan on May 7th. The new minister of finance, Gagik Khachatryan, and other officials were present at the presentation.
The former head of the Committee for State Revenues (CSR), which includes taxmen and the customs service, was appointed to the position of the Minister of Finance on April 26th, but Khachatryan didn’t reject management of the CSR. As a result, the structure was joined to the Ministry of Finance. The merger caused dissatisfaction in Armenian society, especially in the business sphere. Businessmen are sure that the appointment of Khachatryan, who is nicknamed “superminister”, is rather risky from the point of view of corruption.
Superminister is one of major importer-monopolists in Armenia, and his further development as an oligarch won’t lead Armenian business to anything good. The old bureaucrat-oligarch will bring grist to his own mill and help his colleague-oligarchs. As small and medium-sized businesses continue to be a bane for the Armenian oligarchs, obviously Khachatryan will do his best to complete their destruction.
Answering journalists’ questions, Khachatryan only laughed this off and proposed “organization of journalist investigations,” urging not to associate his name with the merger of the financial institutions and adoption of the draft on alternative tax inspections on April 23rd. According to the draft, alternative inspections will be held for “settlement of disputes and specification of liabilities to the budget.”
