Amnesty Granted To Oligarchs
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
Published: 11:28:02 – 29/11/2011
The public and the government have actually declared unlimited amnesty
to the oligarchy, acknowledging the existence of monopolies, the
shadow economy defying the legislation, the dominance of oligopolies.
No one is punished for economic crimes.
In his speech during November 25 rally, Levon Ter-Petrosyan repeated
the idea that the oligarchy is the result of the criminal regime which
has cornered businessmen forcing them to break the law. It is clear
that Ter-Petrosyan was being a little wily, trying to communicate to
the oligarchs that if they support the opposition, they will be
insured against loss of their property and accountability. Although,
the famous saying is that a thief’s place is in prison.
Everyone has a choice, and a lot of businessmen are not oligarchs.
Some of them left the country, others closed their businesses because
they prefer not to work under criminal `market’ rules, yet others
still work strictly observing the law and without economic terror
against people.
So, the problem is not just in the authorities but in the human
characteristics of oligarchs. They are not as innocent as Levon
Ter-Petrosyan wanted to present them.
We can judge about these people, their dreams and their visions by the
way they spend the money they earn with such hard work. This money is
really earned with a lot of difficulty, humiliation, violence. They
need to hire bodyguards to protect themselves from these things. They
even have to buy expensive indulgence for their sins but it does not
help them get rid of the sense of guilt.
Moreover, these people cannot resolve an important problem – how to
spend the money. All they think of is building fortresses to live, a
couple of restaurants to eat and expensive brands to where, as well as
some holidays in Dubai where they feel at home in a familiar oriental
atmosphere. Yes and some charity events with political overtones.
They have neither vision, nor ambitions, or monumentality or anything
else. What will these people leave after them? Is it worth spending so
much money earned with such difficulty on cheesy entertainment?
Meanwhile, they could implement grandiose, even a little adventurous
ideas, such as build something magnificent – the world’s largest
university campus, for instance. Let it be named after the oligarch
but he will be remembered forever. After all, even the Arab sheikhs
who are the favorites of our oligarchs invest their money in grand
projects, such asice fields, artificial islands, grand buildings, and
this is what made the Arab world a place of pilgrimage for tourists.
Ideas are the key brand in business.
The imagination of our oligarchs is at the level of their stomachs.
Even if someone is intelligent enough to invest in a dream of theirs,
they do it by humiliating others.
Perhaps it is necessary to adopt a law banning people without
imagination from becoming oligarchs and senior government officials.