EcoLur
Filing lawsuits by mining companies against individuals/citizens who raise concerns in the field of mining is a common practice, as mentioned by Arthur Grigoryan, former head of Nature Protection and Mining Inspection, interviewed by Gohar Hayrapetyan in the First Newsroom booth. The information in the mining industry is completely confidential - trade secrets, confidentiality of real owners, etc. And they are taking advantage of the law and the inaction of the government and parliament in this regard, including from the standpoint of citizens' rights. As Grigoryan said, according to ZCMC Inspection Act, in 2017 the company had a permit to extract 22 million tonnes, while it produced 27.2 million tonnes. “In 2015-2016, it had an extraction permit of 12.5 tonnes. One year it produced 17 and the other - 19.5 million tons. At the moment, the company has extracted 18 million tons more than it had a permit in three years. Where is that 18 million tonnes now? Is it in the mine or maybe it has crossed the customs border?” Grigoryan questioned. According to Grigoryan, the existence of litigation is important to the extent that cases are to be heard in court. "Yes, good lawyers need to be hired. For international funding, maybe we should turn to international organizations and break all their privacy issues." Speaking about the recent closed meeting on the Amulsar problem in Jermuk, he said, “MPs who seem to have taken over the process are at least trustworthy and politically minded people for me. Such an MP would never allow himself to say that acid drainage is a drainage system ... The problem is that these people have never dealt with these issues. They should look at the question more broadly rather than rely on the basis of the arguments already created by the current authorities. This argument basis is designed to lead to a deadlock. I would like those deputies to set up an ad-hoc committee in the National Assembly and include all the people involved in the matter, starting from myself, the inspection, to Tigran Avinyan and his office members, the Minister of Nature Protection and the Investigative Committee,” he said. Take the whole scheme of ELARD company selection, design, technical pricing and financial pricing for it and try to figure out whether there is corruption here or not. How has pricing been formed, how has $ 400,000 been spent on the study of documentation? Was the purpose to have a study of documentation and leaving it at such a messy level? Or was the problem a real field study, which was to be done by professional people who would give authoritative conclusions, which shall be undeniable evidence? If there is no evidence, that process has failed,” Grigoryan said.
November 26, 2019 at 12:46