Government's Latest Outrageous Decision Will Cost Taxpayers 905,906,351 AMD Says Marukyan

Edmon Marukyan, the president of the Enlightened Armenia party and a member of the National Assembly, wrote on his Facebook page about the government's latest outrageous decision that will cost taxpayers 905,906,351 AMD.

Dear Citizens, during yesterday's government meeting, a positive conclusion was drawn regarding the urgent proposal for amendments to the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of Armenia and the law on the provision of activities, services, and social guarantees for officials.

With this, the government is effectively presenting to the National Assembly the following:

According to Article 213 of the Constitution, until the entry into force of Chapter 7 of the Constitution, a judge of the Constitutional Court appointed before the enactment of this law will continue to receive a pension in the amount of the official salary scale and allowances received at the time of resignation if they resign before January 31, 2020. The pension will be paid until they complete the term determined by the Constitution.

According to the information presented alongside the proposal, in case of the resignation of the President of the Constitutional Court and 6 judges, the amount to be paid as a pension until the term defined by the Constitution will total approximately 90,796,992 AMD annually.

The judges in question are as follows:

• Hrayr Tovmasyan (turns 65 on 08.07.2035)
• Alvina Gyulumyan (turns 65 on 20.01.2021)
• Felix Tokhyan (turns 70 on 20.06.2026)
• Araik Tunyay (turns 65 on 06.01.2031)
• Ashot Khachatryan (turns 65 on 10.09.2027)
• Hrant Nazaryan (turns 70 on 26.01.2029)
• Arevik Petrosyan (turns 65 on 09.12.2037)

If we consider that the salary coefficient for the President of the Constitutional Court is 16, while other judges have a coefficient of 12, it results in each of the 6 judges receiving 1,031,784 AMD monthly, while the President will receive 1,375,712 AMD monthly.

Assuming they all submit their resignations on the last day of the deadline, January 31, 2020, the financial implications would be as follows:

• Hrayr Tovmasyan: 186 months - 255,882,431.37 AMD
• Alvina Gyulumyan: 12 months - 12,381,408.00 AMD
• Felix Tokhyan: 71 months - 73,256,664.00 AMD
• Araik Tunyay: 132 months - 136,195,488.01 AMD
• Ashot Khachatryan: 92 months - 94,924,128.00 AMD
• Hrant Nazaryan: 108 months - 111,432,672.01 AMD
• Arevik Petrosyan: 215 months - 221,833,560.01 AMD

Total: 905,906,351 AMD

Thus, the government is ready to pay nearly 1 billion AMD to part ways with undesirable members of the Constitutional Court, as the process cannot be carried out through legal means. This is happening at a time when the Central Electoral Commission, the Audit Chamber, the Central Bank, and many other bodies are still operated by individuals appointed during Serzh Sargsyan’s tenure.

This raises a logical question about what principle guides the government in displaying such selectivity.

The Enlightened Armenia faction continues to assert that salaries are given in exchange for work, never the other way around. And if the Armenian state budget is capable of affording such extravagances, then why do we, for example, close a clinic for the treatment of neuroses for just 91 million AMD per year?

I have comprehensively addressed this issue in the summer.