ArmInfo.The information on social networks about the alleged withdrawal of funds from social assistance by Armenian banks to forcibly displaced residents of Artsakh is pure insinuation and fake.
As ArmInfo has informed, according to the decision of the Government of Armenia, one-time cash state social assistance to Artsakh residents in the amount of 100 thousand drams cannot be seized, it cannot be confiscated or offset against any obligations of the owner. This is clearly indicated in paragraph 31 of Annex No. 2 to the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia No. 1675 - L dated October 3, 2023 on the procedure for providing one-time cash social assistance to Artsakh residents who were forcibly displaced due to the Azerbaijan's violent armed aggression against Arsakh Republic on September 19.
Moreover, the Public Relations Department of the Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts of Armenia told ArmInfo that the receipt of one-time assistance by Artsakh residents is equivalent to social benefits and payments, and by law they cannot be frozen, much less seized for any liability. These lists of program beneficiaries were prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and provided to Compulsory Enforcement Service.
The Annex to Clause 26 of the Government Decision also indicates how you can be included in this list of one-time cash social assistance, if the adult beneficiary was not initially included in it.
The annex to paragraph 26 of the government decision also states how the beneficiary can be included in this list of one-time cash social assistance, if the adult beneficiary was not initially included in it: you need to do it before December 1 of this year, write a request on the website https://e-request.am/. Further, paragraph 27 explains who can receive one-time cash social assistance from a beneficiary included in this list, but now deceased. This has the right to be done by the beneficiary's spouse, or one of the children who has reached the age of 14, or a relative (brother or sister) living with him at the same address in Nagorno- Karabakh. The application must be submitted before January 20, 2024, along with the necessary documents (death certificate of the beneficiary, identification document of the new beneficiary and certificate confirming the relationship with the deceased), then the relevant service provides a certificate of payment of the amount to the relative of the deceased.
Today Armenian banks are taking a number of steps related to their loans and payment cards for forcibly displaced citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). As the banks that had branches in the Republic of Artsakh explained to ArmInfo, the assistance steps applied to Artsakh residents are taken within the framework of force majeure provided for in the contracts. In complex, confusing situations, banks, as a rule, take an individual approach. But generally, if we are not talking about force majeure, that is, zeroing out all obligations, then banks apply measures such as credit holidays, loan extensions without accumulating fines and penalties. Some banks that were previously active in the Artsakh credit market (Artsakhbank, Araratbank, Armeconombank) managed to begin the process of returning gold and other valuables pledged for pawn loans immediately after Azerbaijan's aggression against the Republic of Artsakh.
In particular, Artsakhbank has already returned gold and gold products to more than 400 Artsakh borrowers, and over 500 more can receive the pledged gold in the Yerevan branches of the bank. Armeconombank has fully returned the gold pledged on 200 million drams pawn loans to the borrowers of Artsakh.Since October 4, Araratbank in its branch in Stepanakert has already returned gold to more than 400 Artsakh residents on their loans, but the process has not yet been completed and is already ongoing in one of the bank's Yerevan branches, and thanks to the efforts of the bank, the gold items stored in the Stepanakert branch were transported to Yerevan.
