Video: Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan Promotes His Former Company’s Interests

On April 18, an interesting incident occurred during the government's session, revealing intriguing underlying layers.

According to Politik.am, that day, Mayor Hayk Marutyan visited the government to convince it to allocate financial resources for purchasing new waste collection vehicles. The municipality of Yerevan intends to establish a new waste collection operator with these vehicles. The mayor announced that 24 new vehicles would be acquired, forming the basis for the second operator.

In response to the mayor’s announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated, "We bought vehicles, and then are we going to create a state institution based on those vehicles that manages waste collection? It’s a very dangerous idea; I can swear right now that it will work much worse."

Many found it puzzling why Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan was ardently trying to convince the city authorities that establishing a second operator was meaningless, even asserting it was dangerous to undertake such an initiative.

In reality, Mher Grigoryan's reaction was hiding a corporate interest. Before his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, Grigoryan served as the Chairman of the Board of Ardshinbank from 2012 to 2018. The waste collection company Sanitek, which operates in Yerevan, has taken out a loan equivalent to $8 million from Ardshinbank. The company received this loan when Mher Grigoryan was its chairman. The presence of a new operator could significantly cut Sanitek's revenues, making it difficult for the company to repay the loan received from the bank. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan seemed to be attempting to serve the interests of the company he previously led.

This incident should serve as a signal for Prime Minister Pashinyan, and he should try to understand whether Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan only serves the interests of the companies he was previously connected to, and whether that’s limited to mere words.