Every year 1,000 entrepreneurs may end up in prison, and in 5 years there will be no entrepreneurs left in Armenia – Vahram Mirakyan

 
Under the new law, if an entrepreneur is arrested for violation but pays taxes, he still remains in prison, Vahram Mirakyan, President of the Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union, told Alpha News, commenting on the amendment proposed by the State Revenue Committee.

“The law stipulates that in case of a violation of more than 10 million drams, an entrepreneur may be arrested for a period of 4 to 8 years, but this article is canceled if the entrepreneur compensates the damage to the state. That is, he pays for the error made in calculating the initial tax. Now the problem is that under the new amendment, if an entrepreneur is arrested for a violation  and then pays these taxes, he will still continue to be in prison. Last year, this clause of the law was applied to about 1,000 entrepreneurs, and it turns out that every year, about 1,000 entrepreneurs will be imprisoned for 4-8 years.

There are many cases when entrepreneurs file a statement that they made a mistake in their calculations, win the case, and get their money back. However, according to the new law, they will continue to stay in prison, and this is the main problem. A violation of 10 million drams is a very small amount. If the business turnover is 10-20 billion drams, a violation of 10 million drams may be the result of an accountant’s mistake, and as a result, an entrepreneur may be imprisoned for 4-8 years, which is simply absurd. According to this principle, about 1,000 entrepreneurs may end up in prison every year and in 5 years there will simply be no entrepreneurs left in Armenia,” Mirakyan said.

When asked why repression against entrepreneurs has intensified recently, he noted that budget revenues are not sufficient and the State Revenue Committee cannot fulfill the budget plan.

“The reason why this cannot be implemented is because the economy is developing poorly. That is why we are very actively working with the government, we are in constant contact. We recently met with the Minister of Finance, in September we will meet with the Deputy Minister of Finance. We will visit our branch in Kapan. We are doing all this for the benefit of the development of our economy and business in Armenia,” Mirakyan concluded.