There is an interesting law in the parliaments’ agenda for discussion. The title of this law is very interesting as well: “Law on providing financial support to construction companies selected by the RA government.”
This law is very specific and purposeful. It consists of one and half pages and four provisions. The main purpose of the law is written in the first provision: “In the scopes of investment plans of construction companies and private entrepreneurs exceeding one billion dram during three years shall be co-sponsored by the government.”
In a word, the government has decided to make a law enabling to sponsor construction companies and these companies shall be selected by the government without any policies. People perfectly know how much construction has been done in the country so far and who the owners of those businesses are. It is also known that the construction sector has been out of the tax sphere and the owners of these businesses have received super-profits. As a result of the crisis this sector suffered much and the government supported them on the account of huge foreign borrowings and helped these tycoons. They think it is not enough, and now they want to provide money from the budget, and the one to decide when and how is the government.
“We know that such projects are backed by high rank officials who are laundering money and now the government wants to get the right to select these companies in order to make their undiscovered agents win the competitions,” says MP Viktor Dallakyan concerning the draft law.
The draft law writes which companies should get support and how much, and also which of them may return the money to the government and which ones no, as the government may decide from time to time. The draft law does not write whether there will be competitions or no and in fact it is up to the government to decide as they want. “It is a corruption system from the top to the bottom and people pay for that. That is why all mechanisms and policies connected with it should be decided by the law. They don’t define policies how to provide financial support and definitely the tenders will be won by their organizations. It is about a lot of money. We say that all relations should be regulated by the law in order to minimize the subjective manipulations. We know how it was done in the North Avenue. They have forced out people, constructed buildings there and made money and now they say it was done for the interests of the state. That is why I am concerned that if these projects are realized with the decisions of the government, there may be problems,” says V. Dallakyan.
The draft justification is strange too because it writes that it is done for the purpose of creating good and attractive conditions for construction companies. “I believe attractive conditions can be in sex only. I don’t understand what the purpose is if the apartments that are already finished cannot be sold. If they say the goal is to support the needy families, we will understand that they want to do a real work. But all these things show that people want to make money on the account of the state.” “As a result of this project more people will be employed in the construction sector, the capacity of importing construction materials will grow,” writes the justification provision.
At first glance it seems this law is adopted for the purpose of supporting the construction sector and citizens, but when we remind who the owner of construction businesses and import of construction materials, we understand that it is another law to embezzle the money of the government and provide privileged support to a group of businesses under the umbrella of the authorities. This project looks like the subsidy of gas, when the money received as a result of selling the HES of Hrazdan was provided for the purpose of subsidizing gas. This money was mostly used by producers, including construction materials producers. Now the government wants to take out money from the budget directly to use in the sector of construction because it is one of the best places for money laundering. Most probably the law will be adopted; they will establish companies in the names of their mothers-in-law and will provide financial support to those companies. It is very strange that after all these things still there are people who say that the government does not fight corruption.