ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan calls on all high- ranking officials, who have illegally acquired property, to turn to law enforcement officers and return the loot from the people. the head of government came up with such a call on March 19 spoke at a meeting with journalists.
According to him, immediately after taking office, he visited the Meghri free economic zone on the border with Iran and found that all the territories adjacent to the project are already owned by a number of former high-ranking officials. "It turned out that these officials, being aware of the plans for the construction of the FEZ and its further expansion, bought all the land adjacent to the territory at ridiculous prices," said Pashinyan.
As the Prime Minister pointed out, in order to peacefully resolve the issue, the government first "culturally" addressed these <landowners> with the proposal to voluntarily return the land, but they refused. Then, the government had to take other steps, namely, the issue was transerred to regulation of law enforcement officers, criminal cases were initiated.
If it turns out that they acquired these land plots illegally, and the transactions for their acquisition were fictitious, then, as Pashinyan pointed out, Armenian law gives the right to return them to the state in an imperative manner. "I will not say that all lands will be returned to the state, but this will be done in all those cases when the unlawfulness of their acquisition is proved," he said.
Pashinyan reminded that in 2018, when he first announced the possibility of introducing transitional justice, "everyone was alarmed, saying that as a result <property redistribution> would occur." <There is nothing like that today. But all the officials,I want to emphasize that I mean officials and not businessmen, should know that those who have illegally acquired property will be forced to return it to the state. "Their time has passed," said Pashinyan.
At the same time, as the head of the government pointed out, law enforcement officers are tasked to conduct huge, but effective work of returning to the people all the loot during these years.
Earlier, at a government meeting, the head of the government's office, Eduard Aghajanyan, said that at present, criminal cases have been initiated around the land plots adjacent to the Meghri free economic zone on the border with Iran. At the same time, according to him, according to the police, the issue will be resolved within two to three months. "The available evidence suggests that land plots are subject to return to the state," he said. In turn, as the Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan informed, the alienation of the corresponding land plots was carried out through falsifications. "If during the investigation the pretense of transactions is proved, then there will be grounds for invalidating them, and the guilty will be brought to justice," he explained.
It should be noted that the total cost of construction of the FEZ in Meghri is estimated at $ 32 million, of which $ 28 million is capital expenditures. The construction of a free economic zone on the border with Iran is one of the priority investment programs of the RA government and provides for the creation of a zone of 10-15 hectares, with the possibility of further expansion up to 45-50 hectares.
It is assumed that there will be 100-120 companies operating there, the revenues of which for 10 years will amount to $ 52 million. Production will be exported to Iran, the countries of the EAEU, the Middle East, Turkmenistan, etc. The total investment of all companies over 10 years is planned to reach $ 350-400 million.
The functioning of the FEZ is already enshrined in law in the Customs Code of the EAEU. In total, there will be seven such zones in the EAEU using the duty-free system.