Officials With Intent to Misappropriate Funds Will Be Held Accountable: Pashinyan

Officials with intent to misappropriate funds will be held accountable, regardless of which political team they belong to. This statement was made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during discussions on the budget draft in the National Assembly.

"Substandard work will not be accepted; officials who engage in misappropriation of funds will be held accountable and will face consequences. There will be no exceptions based on political affiliation; no one is above the law," Pashinyan stated.

The Prime Minister noted that construction companies are currently unprepared to operate according to the standards set by the government. As a result, capital expenditures have been underperformed in 2019.

"Capital expenditures have always been a problem in Armenia; this issue didn’t arise after the revolution. It has intensified now because we refuse to allow misappropriation and we do not accept subpar work. The higher standards we set, the more difficult it becomes to utilize those funds effectively," Pashinyan explained.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the government is intentionally reducing performance indicators as it continuously strives to improve work quality. According to Nikol Pashinyan, the government is focusing not on today's indicators but rather on those of tomorrow. Meanwhile, construction companies continue to perform poorly, resulting in having to redo each project three times to meet the quality demanded by the government.