If Arthur Grigoryan was aware of the government's decision 8 months ago, why has he been silent all this time, Tigran Avinyan

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan has responded to the statement made by former head of the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body, Arthur Grigoryan, in which he claimed that the Prime Minister's Office was involved in opening the roads to Amulsar, and that this process was attempted to be organized through his own efforts.

Avinyan specifically noted: “I read the statement of the former head of the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body, Arthur Grigoryan, claiming that my entire office, as well as the Prime Minister's Office, was engaged in opening the roads to Amulsar, and most importantly, that this process was being organized by 'his hands'. This statement may create an impression for the reader that he is an impartial person who has become a victim of various machinations, while the reality is much simpler. During his brief tenure as head of the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body, he displayed himself as a person lacking the necessary professional knowledge and work capabilities for that position. And above all, he failed to assume the role of an impartial arbiter, which is demanded from anyone occupying such an important position. Work ethics have so far prevented us from speaking about the numerous shortcomings that exist, but perhaps today I will bring only one example to demonstrate the absurd situation we found ourselves in due to Mr. Grigoryan's turbulent activities.

Due to his mistakes and unreasonable obstinacy, ‘Lydian’ has filed a lawsuit that is still under consideration. Thus, according to the inspection conducted by the Environmental and Mining Inspection Body in Amulsar in 2018, new circumstances have emerged, represented by the Apollo butterfly and the Foxglove plant species. In other words, amidst the repeatedly reported risks to the Sevan water basin and the waters of Jermuk, the inspection body identifies a butterfly and a plant. According to Arthur Grigoryan, this was a chance to later suspend the company's activities. To be clear, I would also like to note that this decision was even positively evaluated by ‘Lydian’ representatives, who asserted that it turns out that the main risks raised by various circles do not exist, and that all necessary records regarding the Apollo butterfly and all species registered in the 'Red Book' were included in their EIA/SAE documentation.

Subsequent studies revealed that the Apollo butterfly does not inhabit those altitudes and even if it was found there, it could only be a 'tourist' there. The Foxglove plant has more than 100 species, and only 2 of them are registered in the 'Red Book'. Well, you can already guess that what Arthur Grigoryan discovered was not a 'Red Book' species.

Allow me to also address the 'lobbying' regarding the annulment of the inspection act that we are carrying out. The decisions of the inspection body can be contested in court. Given that circumstance, the Prime Minister's Office, conducting a comprehensive study of the information recorded by the decision, suggested the inspection body to annul it. Why? It was simply obvious to us that without annulment, we would not have any other outcome other than recording the government's defeat in court. That decision was not annulled, and 'Lydian' submitted an administrative complaint against the inspection body, the complaint was also rejected by the inspection body, and now the case is under consideration in court.

Regarding Arthur Grigoryan's claim that we wanted to open roads to Amulsar through his 'hands', I must say that he has never had any authority to open roads in the territory of Armenia, and even if the government had such an intention, it would have addressed an entity with such functions— the Police of Armenia. As for the claims about corruption in the government, they are so absurd and unfounded that I do not even wish to address them.

Today we also clarified that Mr. Grigoryan is most likely clairvoyant, as he claims that he was aware of the decision made regarding Amulsar 8 months ago, despite the fact that the results of the ELARD expert examination were published relatively recently, and the government has not yet announced a final decision. Ultimately, this raises the question that if he was aware of the government’s decision 8 months ago, why has he been silent all this time? For now, that’s all I have, next I will address the criminal case that has been initiated and the examinations conducted within that framework, as well as questions related to possible arbitration cases.