VIDEO: We fine them 85 times, they pay, and an 8-story building is constructed – Pashinyan

The supervisory authority issues citations for the company’s director, owner, and employees, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a government Q&A session. He was responding to a question from Arusyak Manavazyan, a member of the National Assembly from the Civil Contract faction, regarding why a company continues its operations despite the negative conclusion from the inspections carried out by the Ministry of Urban Development, Fire Safety, and Technical Security.

Manavazyan highlighted an explosion at a non-operational foundry in the ‘Hrazdan HPP’ area that occurred the night before and its subsequent consequences.

“We cannot deploy police units at all these locations and say, ‘no one can enter this area.’ We cannot tell the landowner, ‘we are not allowing you to enter your land,’ because they might say, ‘I’m entering my land to retrieve gold, I need to sell it.’ We go to individuals and tell them, ‘the food on your table is poisonous.’ The person eats it and gets poisoned. In such situations, what should the supervisory authority do, tie the person's hands and feet?” Pashinyan noted. “I assume a criminal case will be initiated regarding this incident, and the person who received and signed that supervisory act will be held criminally responsible for bringing people into danger.”

In response to Manavazyan’s comment on why the facility's owner should face criminal responsibility after the incident, Pashinyan replied, “It’s the same scenario: there’s poisonous mushrooms on a kitchen counter. We go in, say ‘don’t eat,’ and then leave. The person eats, gets poisoned, and dies. Should we place a police officer in front of that person? But the issue here is deeper. A person alerts us that illegal construction is taking place in their yard, and we go and fine them. And we fine them 85 times, they pay, and an 8-story building gets constructed. This is absurd. Therefore, criminal responsibility must be enforced. But it is evident that we cannot have such a supervisory and regulatory body; how much salary should we pay them? Can we afford to pay enough salary to deter them from taking bribes and turning a blind eye to these incidents?”