If a person has held public office their entire life and is a dollar billionaire, they should be ‘dekulakised’ as soon as possible – Pashinyan
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that, if the legal system operates effectively in the process of confiscating property of illicit origin, more than $1 billion worth of property could be returned to the state in the case concerning former Finance Minister and former State Revenue Committee Chairman Gagik Khachatryan and persons affiliated with him. Pashinyan made the remarks during the National Assembly-Government question-and-answer session, addressing the process of confiscating property of illicit origin.
The Prime Minister recalled the Government’s stated goal of returning at least $2 billion worth of property of illicit origin to the state and communities in the coming years.
“Shortly afterwards, they published a list of the former Finance Minister’s property worth around $1.5 billion. In other words, if the legal system works properly, more than $1 billion worth of property will be returned in just one case,” Pashinyan said.
He also addressed claims that the ongoing proceedings against former senior officials constitute political persecution.
“If a person has held public office their entire life and is a dollar billionaire, how is that political persecution? That person should be ‘dekulakised’ as soon as possible,” Pashinyan said.
According to the Prime Minister, the authorities have chosen an institutional, legal path for recovering property of illicit origin so that the process takes place through the appropriate judicial procedures.