Ball is in PSRC chairman’s court; he must suspend interim manager’s activities – David Ghazinyan

In response to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) chairman’s inquiry, the government has stated that the arbitration decision regarding ENA must be enforced, former acting CEO of ENA David Ghazinyan said during a press conference held on August 27.

He explained that Narek Karapetyan, chairman of ENA’s board of directors, had sent a letter to PSRC chairman Mesrop Mesropyan, requesting the implementation of the interim decision of the Stockholm arbitration and the annulment of the PSRC’s decision appointing Civil Contract party member Romanos Petrosyan as interim manager of ENA.

According to the former ENA official, the government is creating the illusion that it has expressed its opinion, but the commission is an independent body and must make its own decision.

“This is not a state approach. If a country joins an international treaty or agreement, it means the Constitutional Court rules on its constitutionality, and then it is ratified by the National Assembly. This means international agreements take precedence over domestic legal acts. Now the ball is in the commission chairman’s court—he must suspend the interim manager’s activities,” Ghazinyan said.

Responding to a question from Alpha News, Ghazinyan stated that failure to comply with the interim arbitration decision will not be viewed seriously by the international court.

“I believe there will definitely be consequences. They won’t be immediate—no one’s going to show up asking why it wasn’t enforced—but consequences will follow. That means Armenia’s credit rating and investment prospects could be affected. Imagine an investor sees what is happening in Armenia: one of the largest investments is being seized, the owner of ENA is being unlawfully detained, and the arbitration decision is not being enforced. Can you name even one person in the world who would come and invest in Armenia? I can’t imagine it,” Ghazinyan added.