Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed regret over the dismissal of Vaan Kerobyan from the position of Minister of Economy due to the criminal case initiated against him.
"I must say directly, I am very sorry that this personnel change is happening under the circumstances known to all of us. I can express gratitude for Vaan Kerobyan's work as Minister of Economy, but at the moment I am not ready to make any comments regarding the reasons for his dismissal. We should observe the presumption of innocence and not influence the results of the investigation," said Pashinyan on March 7, during the presentation of the newly appointed Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan to the department.
Meanwhile, Pashinyan also expressed confidence in the objectivity of the investigation and assured that the questions arising from this situation would be answered.
"We all make mistakes in our work, starting from me and ending with others. However, the benchmark for assessing our integrity should be whether we violate the principles of financial discipline and transparency in the use of state funds. This is a key standard," added the Prime Minister.
Earlier, BMG reported that by the decree of the President of Armenia dated March 5, Gevorg Papoyan was appointed Minister of economy.
Gevorg Papoyan, a former deputy of the ruling faction "Civil contract" and chairman of the National Assembly's committee on financial, credit, and budgetary issues, was approved as a candidate for the position of Minister of Economy by the ruling party "Civil contract" on February 24.
Simultaneously with his appointment to the new position, Papoyan resigned from his parliamentary duties.
It is worth reminding that the former Minister of economy Vaan Kerobyan was relieved of his duties on February 14 due to allegations of abuse of office. The court decision to place Kerobyan under house arrest for two months was made on February 16.
