SERGE SARGSIAN: I WOULD LIKE EVERYBODY TO BE AS LAW-ABIDING AS I AM
Noyan Tapan
Nov 14, 2007
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Some mass media outlets make a
stir about ordinary checkings. This was the response of the Armenian
prime minister Serge Sargsian to the National Assembly "Heritage"
faction’s question about whether it is true that the checkings done
by tax bodies at the enterprises of Sil Concern are not related to
the fact that Sil Concern’s owner Khachatur Sukiasian supports the
first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian.
According to S. Sargsian, if a person is engaged in politics, it does
not mean that his economic activity should not be under tax control. He
said that the tax policy will be toughened in Armenia because it is
the first precondition for creating an equal competition field.
In response to the remark about why enterprises owned by "other clans"
are not checked and that each leader should begin the use of law by
starting to do so himself, S. Sargsian said: "I’d like many people
to be as law-abiding as I am – from stopping before the red light of
a traffic-light and so on.
No one can rebuke me. I would never have the moral right to give
instructions to someone if I ever tried to protect my friends and
relatives from tax or customs bodies".
Later, responding to a reporter’s question about whether Mikael
Baghdasarov is a person close to him and how it can be explained that
"Mika Cement" owned by M. Baghdasarov is the 551st on the list of tax
payers, the prime minister replied that M. Baghdasarov is not among
those close to him.