Your Statement Sounds Philosophical in a Country Where the Prime Minister and NSS Director Are Being Wiretapped

Recently, there was an incident involving the director of a foundation who illicitly transferred funds to the accounts of her husband, mother, and daughter, and then later retrieved those funds back into her own accounts. This was mentioned today by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Hayk Grigoryan, while discussing a draft law at the government meeting which aims to allow law enforcement agencies to obtain bank secrecy-related information not only about suspects and defendants but also, if necessary, about their associates.

Vice Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan expressed concerns regarding the draft law, stating, “This is not being done to ease the work of law enforcement agencies; they should work based on subjects rather than taking a bulk of information concerning one subject and starting to build a line of criminal cases.”

The Prime Minister responded, “Now you say that if we are wiretapping A, should we not automatically wiretap those he is calling? The entire point is to know who he is calling and what he is discussing. Otherwise, we are not wiretapping for aesthetic pleasure, are we?”

Mher Grigoryan replied, “If someone has called me, which interests law enforcement, what right do they have to wiretap me? If the person I am speaking to also becomes of interest to law enforcement, they should go to court to obtain the right to wiretap them as well. All these matters will end up in the European Court.”

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted, “What you are saying sounds very philosophical in a country where the Prime Minister and the NSS Director are being wiretapped.”