CivilNet is launching a lawsuit against the staff of the Armenian government. The legal group of “Transparency International” will help to represent the interests of the media in court. The lawsuit was accepted, the first hearing is scheduled for May 3.

CivilNet journalist Mkrtich Karapetyan sent a question to the RA Government staff on the subject of receiving a 15% stake in the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC).

The executive body did not make the agreement public, reasoning that it contained trade secrets.

The journalist said that the information related to the state share cannot be considered a trade secret. “Moreover, they mention that it was decided by that very agreement that it must remain secret. But do we not have the right to understand what obligations the government has, maybe in a year it will donate to another party?”

According to him, the issue of secrecy under the contract raises doubts, as the company is one of the largest companies exploiting Armenia’s subsoil, is a large taxpayer, and this deal must be transparent to the public.

It is still not clear to the people as a result of what agreement the shareholder of Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine decided to make such a generous donation to the government.

In fact, since 2021, the Armenian government is a co-owner of a copper-molybdenum plant. This share was donated to the government by the joint-stock company “Industrial Company,” about which there is no information in the state register.

It is a company belonging to “GeoProMining Armenia,” which on September 30, 2021, acquired 60% of ZCMC.

Recently, in order to increase the management efficiency, the executive transferred its share to the “State Interests Fund of Armenia” company.

Earlier, in an interview with media.am, economist Haykaz Fanyan said that in 2022, journalists interested in economic topics would do well to focus on developments around the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine.

The court sessions will be in an open door format.

Gayane Asryan