ArmInfo. The Armenian government has received signals from its foreign partners that dubious and incomprehensible processes are taking place at the Zangezur Copper- Molybdenum Combine, which is undoubtedly a national treasure. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced this when answering the questions of the lawmakers in the RA National Assembly.
Pashinyan stressed that there is even information that there may be illegal withdrawal of capital . He recalled that ZCMC is under close scrutiny by the State Revenue Committee and, according to its information, a criminal case has been opened over the work of the plant. The prime minister said that all information received within the framework of the legislation will be verified.
<Yes, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine is a national treasure. But, it is important to know the answers to the question, does this national wealth enrich the population of Armenia or only certain circles?>, Pashinyan noted. In this regard, he noted the need to return to the 2000s, when ZCMC was privatized. What was the price of privatization, the scheme, from whose side, whose names appear, who then became the owner, what are they doing today. <Yes, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine is one of the largest taxpayers in Armenia, but this does not change the situation. And who said that the taxes paid by the Combine should not have been even higher? The Armenian people should get answers to all these questions, "the head of government said, recalling that, according to the legislation, the country's bowels belong exclusively to its people.
To recall, in January last year, Nikol Pashinyan instructed to check the media information that among the shareholders of the country's largest mining enterprise in Armenia - the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) - there are people affiliated with high-ranking officials of the former political regime. <We have several assumptions about this. There are preliminary data, but they are not at the level that we could publish them, "Pashinyan said then. To note, Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine CJSC (ZMMK) is the largest mining company in Armenia. The company's shareholders are officially the German company Cronimet Mining (60%), Yerevan Pure Iron Plant OJSC (15%), Armenian Molybdenum Production LLC and Zangezur Mining LLC (12.5% each). However, some experts, having checked the information, considered it incomplete and not transparent, since the structure of minority shareholders is not clear. There was information in the press about the presence of interests in it on the part of family members of the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, who resigned after the "velvet revolution". A number of Armenian parliamentarians appealed to the relevant authorities with a demand to start an investigation into the fact how rather "modest" persons, especially close to the family of the former president, began to own the company's multimillion assets.
