International well-known magazines periodically publicize the list of the richest people in the world. Those publications don’t mean much for average Armenian citizens. We maximum look for last names ending in “yan” and the government applies its flexibility to make the billions only millions. The emotions are totally different when the names of Armenia’s rich men are published. According to the “Forbes” a month ago the richest person of Armenia was President Robert Kocharyan, the property of who exceeds billions of dollars. The list had well-known names – CB president, Ministers of Justice and Defense, famous businessmen. The sequence of the rich of Armenia, published by Armenian “Forbes” was slightly different this time. The list was occupied by Robert Kocharyan, davit Harutyunyan, Yervand Zakharyan, Serj Sargsyan, head of the state customs service, Armen Avetisyan, Andrnaik Manukyan. Out of businessmen the names of Gagik Tsarukyan, Mikhail Baghdasarov, Hrant Vardanyan and Sukiasyan family were in the list. This list grimly simplifies that there is no billionaire in Armenia, everybody is a millionaire. However, let’s remember that we are speaking about a poor country, where $1000 for an average citizen seems like a dream. It’s not hard to figure out what the average citizens think about the list. However, as offered by economist Edward Aghajanov, there is no need to make premature assumptions because the ones, who appeared in the list (at least half of them) wouldn’t like to appear in the list. Is it pleasant for Armenian businessmen to appear in the list or they prefer not to be publicized? We asked this question to Hrant Vardanyan. “First the numbers mentioned in the list are absurdness. Besides that what was done is not nice because at least 100 businessmen of Armenia got offended for not being included in the list. And who likes to count the money of others let them do it.” Vardanyan doesn’t like to appear in the list because in order to be happy about that he needs to pay his 3 million USD debt. “Do you owe the budget or businessmen?” we asked. He owes both the budget and the banks. Aghajanov, who’s also interested with the list of the top rich, stated the following, “If these people paid at least 20% of their incomes to the budget then good for them. Being rich is not a crime. The only thing that worries our society is what the relations of these people are with the state budget. As the institute of tax publication is not very developed in our country it’s not easy to know the number of rich people and the amount of their capital. In foreign countries this is a quite transparent process. I don’t know how much property and money the head of the state customs service, Armen Avetisyan has. Thus it’s hard to compare him with others. In our country rich men do a great job in hiding their actual incomes.” This is perhaps the reason why people get excited when reading any information about the property of statesmen. In their mind they figure out what the statesman has – the apartment in Shengavit or Bangladesh, “Zhiguli” car inherited by the grandfather. That when they realize that the mentioned statesman is honest. Don Quichotte was saying that being rich means to use the means in a clever way. Of course our top rich men don’t consider Don Quichotte an authority for themselves. In our country anyone, who’s rich or has certain opportunities try to show that in a lavish way by building grotesque villas, celebrate flashy birthdays and weddings, make sure their children have good jobs and buy new cars. When we see the richest man in the world – Bill Gates with his not very expensive optical glasses, imperfect clothes and unkempt hair no will ever think that he’s in charge of the main levers of information technologies of the world. During his interviews Gates doesn’t surprise people with his billions but talks about his obligations to his country – develop information technologies, see the fruits of his paid taxes. He hasn’t ever bragged about his money, cars and fancy perfumes.
Being a successful businessman in our country doesn’t give you enough grounds to be proud of it especially if one doesn’t enjoy the support of the government. Our host, Edward Aghajanov also ensures that. “If you are from the wing of the government it’s not dangerous to be rich. If you are linked to the government you may be subject to government racket. I know many people, who being successful average businessmen fear to expand their businesses and prefer to buy apartments in Armenia.” Also, Aghajanov offers to apply a tradition in our country. It’s when the greatest taxpayer will be honored to a tete-a-tete dinner with the President. But not in the President’s office cafeteria.
