Either the 50,000 employees now paying taxes are in no way reflected in the entries of the military servicemen’s insurance fund or you have the wrong figures. This is what deputy of the Bright Armenia faction Armen Yeghiazaryan said as he addressed Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a question-and-answer session with government officials at the National Assembly.

Armen Yeghiazaryan particularly said the following: “During your speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, you declared that 50-51,000 shadow workers are already working by law. As you know, AMD 1,000 is sent to the military servicemen’s insurance fund every month, and based on my information, the monthly indicator rose by AMD 5,026,000 prior to December 2018, meaning only 5,026 workers are no longer shadow workers. I believe it is necessary to mention that nearly 6,451 citizens have applied to the fund to retrieve their money by law. So, either the 50,000 employees now paying taxes are in no way reflected in the entries of the military servicemen’s insurance fund or you have the wrong figures.

In response to the deputy’s observation, Pashinyan said that the figures can’t be wrong because they are shown in the data of the State Revenue Committee and the National Statistical Service, which have released the figures. “As far as the fund is concerned, I will receive additional clarifications, but I must say that everyone knows that there are problems with the payments, and the government needs to take actions to make sure the fees are paid,” Nikol Pashinyan concluded.