Wednesday,
Security Service Wants Stricter Citizenship Rules For Diaspora Armenians
Armenia - The passport of a citizen of Armenia, September 18, 2014.
The National Security Service (NSS) put forward on Wednesday a bill that sets
more stringent requirements for ethnic Armenian foreign nationals seeking to
become citizens of Armenia.
The legal amendment drafted by it would make them eligible for fast-track dual
citizenship only if they have stayed in the country for at least 60 days over
the past two years.
The NSS said this would minimize applications from individuals who want Armenian
passports in order to more easily migrate to other parts of the world and/or
simply “have nothing to do with Armenianness.”
Armenia allowed dual citizenship as a result of constitutional changes enacted
in late 2005. This was supposed to strengthen the country’s links with several
million Diaspora Armenians scattered around the world. Tens of thousands of them
have received Armenian passports since then, taking advantage of a separate law
on citizenship that sets no residency requirements for them.
In a written justification of the proposed amendment posted on a government
website, the NSS said the law contradicts an article of the constitution which
stipulates that Diaspora Armenians can become dual citizens “from the moment
they settle in the Republic of Armenia.”
Citing its own “extensive research,” the NSS also argued that many of those
applicants have never or rarely visited Armenia and not relocated to their
ancestral homeland or bought real estate there after obtaining Armenian
citizenship.
Armenia -- The main entrance to the National Security Service building in
Yerevan.
The security agency, which also deals with border control, singled out ethnic
Armenians from Lebanon, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. Some of them
have used their Armenian passports “only for being able to travel to other
states,” it said, presumably referring to their migration to the United States
and European Union nations.
The NSS bill, which should be considered by the Armenian government after a
two-week “public discussion,” follows a sharp rise in Armenian citizenship
applications recorded by immigration authorities in Yerevan since the start of
the war in Ukraine.
According to the Armenian police, 9,917 foreigners applied for Armenian
citizenship in the first half of this year, up from 3,448 such requests received
in the year-earlier period. The bulk of those applications were filed by
Diaspora Armenians.
Police officials have not named the countries whose nationals applied for
Armenian citizenship after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
Some Armenian media outlets reported recently that many members of Russia's
large Armenian community are now seeking Armenian passports because of the
Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Armenia has attracted thousands of Russian migrants in the last few months. The
vast majority of them have no Armenian roots.
Investigators Tight-Lipped On Probe Of Judicial Scandal
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Gagik Jahangirian, the acting chairman of the Supreme Judicial
Council, at a news conference in Yerevan, August 2, 2021.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency said on Wednesday that it has not yet
indicted anyone in an ongoing investigation into leaked audio that led to the
resignation of Gagik Jahangirian, the acting head of the country’s judicial
watchdog.
The Investigative Committee refused to give any other details of the
investigation launched on July 4.
Jahangirian stepped down on July 1 ten days after the release of a recording in
which he appeared to warn Ruben Vartazarian, the previous chairman of the
Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), to quit or face criminal charges.
The 14-minute recording caused uproar in Armenia, with opposition figures and
civic activists demanding that Jahangirian be not only sacked by also
prosecuted. The latter claimed that he did not blackmail Vartazarian and simply
used “psychological ploys” to engineer his resignation.
The Investigative Committee opened the criminal case under articles of the
Criminal Code dealing with abuse of power and obstruction of justice. A
spokesman for the agency declined to say whether it has questioned Jahangirian.
The investigators reportedly interrogated Vartazarian last week. He did not deny
on Wednesday media reports that he refused to give them full audio of his
February 2021 dinner meeting with Jahangirian.
Armenia - Ruben Vartazarian, head of the Supreme Judicial Council, at a news
conference in Yerevan, June 20, 2022.
The meeting took place two months before Vartazarian was controversially charged
with obstruction of justice and suspended as SJC chairman amid rising tensions
with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Vartazarian said that he secretly recorded the conversation with Jahangirian
“for self-defense.” “The atmosphere of hatred is so intense right now that I
don’t want to publicize other parts of the recording and create new tensions in
our society or problems between some individuals,” he said.
Opposition leaders and other government critics say Pashinian installed
Jahangirian as head of the body overseeing Armenian courts to curb judicial
independence. They have repeatedly accused the prime minister of seeking to
increase government influence on the courts under the guise of Western-backed
judicial reforms.
The authorities deny this, insisting that they want to strengthen the rule of
law. Pashinian admitted late last month that the scandal caused by the leaked
audio undermined the credibility of the reforms.
Armenian Tax Agency Seeks End To Banking Secrecy
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Rustam Badasian, head of the State Revenue Committee, speaks at a
cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
Tax authorities have called for the effective abolition of banking secrecy in
Armenia, citing the need to further complicate tax evasion.
Under a bill drafted by the State Revenue Committee (SRC) and circulated late
last week, SRC officials would no longer need permission from courts to access
information about bank accounts of individuals suspected of engaging or
assisting in tax evasion.
In an explanatory note attached to the bill, the SRC says that many Armenian
entrepreneurs divert a large part of their revenues to personal bank accounts of
their relatives or employees to pay less taxes. The practice, it says, is
commonplace in business activities such as trade in household goods, production
of precious stones and metals, information technology and tourism.
“Without keeping track of banking transactions of those individuals it is almost
impossible to detect the underreporting of revenue through such schemes,” reads
the document.
The proposed bill, which has yet to be discussed by the Armenian government, has
prompted concern from some businesspeople. They say that it would scare away
local and foreign investors.
“It may make the work of the SRC easier but it would also throw business
activity into crisis,” claimed Vahram Mirakian, the head of the Mantashiants
Business Association.
“We would have to forget about investments,” Mirakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
The SRC on Wednesday declined to comment further on its initiative. The document
posted by it on a government website argues that in countries like France and
Germany commercial banks are legally required to share information about client
accounts with tax authorities.
Banking secrecy in Armenia was already somewhat eased in 2020. A government bill
approved by the parliament allowed tax and law-enforcement bodies to seek
financial information about not only bank clients accused of crimes but also
people linked to them.
The bill was actively promoted by Rustam Badasian, the current head of the SRC
who served as justice minister at the time. It was criticized by opposition
lawmakers and the Union of Armenian Banks.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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