Leaders of the “No To Plunder” movement hold a press conference in Yerevan on June 30 (Source: Photolure)
YEREVAN (Mediamax)—The “No To Plunder” movement has decided not to take part in the international audit to be conducted at the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), according to statements made by members of the group to Mediamax.
An organizer of the “No to Plunder” movement, Sofia Hovsepyan, told Mediamax that their decision was preceded by discussions on the expediency of their involvement with various specialists, among them representatives and lawyers of international audit firms.
“After the discussions, we concluded that our presence would not ensure the transparency of the audit process. Logically, specialists conducting the audit deal with quite serious numbers and no international auditor will let us be present at the entire process. We will have to wait till the auditors step out of the room and present a certain result to us, which equals to presenting those results to the public, outside of those walls. It will create the impression that we have controlled the process and have seen that everything is ‘normal,’” said Hovsepyan.
According to her, the state’s proposal to allow activists to be involved in the audit group “was nothing but a formal step.”
Hovsepyan stressed that “No to Plunder” is against conducting an international audit of the ENA.
“The results of the audits conducted at the ENA have testified to the ineffective work of the company, and the latter has not taken any measure, except increasing electricity tariffs, to prevent it. We already have the results of the audits conducted over the past years. Additional money will be spent on this planned audit, which mainly aims to make it clear for us that the increase in electricity tariffs is objective,” she said.
“No To Plunder” will officially announce its decision not to be involved in the audit process at a press conference scheduled for next week, where participants will speak about the group’s next steps and demands.
Meanwhile, on July 14, “No To Plunder” will march to the General Prosecutor’s Office demanding that the policemen who used forcibly dispersed protesters participating in a sit-in on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue on June 23 be punished for excessive use of force.
President Serzh Sarkissian had previously called on the protesters “not to refrain from taking on a new responsibility and getting involved in the real process of elaborating the steps, thus reducing the skepticism that rules in the society.”
Hovsepyan noted that other than the President’s statement, “No To Plunder” has not received any official proposal to participate in the audit.