Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking at the Armenian Democracy Forum, addressed concerns about the controversy surrounding the Armenia National Interests Fund (ANIF), which has drawn criticism from democracy advocates.
“How do you know about the ANIF case? How does the press know? The state had questions and pursued them,” Pashinyan said, according to Panorama.am .
Referring to former ANIF CEO Davit Papazian’s statements, Pashinyan remarked: “The moment he was placed on an international wanted list, he suddenly remembered that ‘Pashinyan betrayed our hopes.’ It’s a pattern. Good thing he didn’t make that statement four months earlier, otherwise international organizations would already be labeling him a political prisoner. How long can this go on?”
The prime minister also insisted that systemic corruption was eliminated after the 2018 political change.
“I officially state that systemic corruption has disappeared from Armenia since 2018 and does not exist to this day. If systemic corruption existed, I would have had my share of every corruption case you’ve heard about. I know whether I have a share or not, and I don’t. There has been no systemic corruption in Armenia, and there never will be. Of course, isolated corruption incidents, unfortunately, exist in many countries around the world,” Pashinyan said.
Earlier, former ANIF head Davit Papazyan had accused Pashinian of abusing public trust and trying to scapegoat others for the government’s failures, including ANIF projects. One of ANIF’s largest ventures, Fly Arna, Armenia’s national carrier, is currently undergoing liquidation. In March 2024, Pashinyan told parliament that market conditions had shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, competition increased, and Fly Arna could not withstand it. The state invested 4.8 billion drams in the airline.
