YEREVAN, July 15. /ARKA/. Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) said today it has withdrawn a package of proposals, designed to amend the Law on Banking Secrecy and other related laws from the single website e-draft.am, created for publishing draft legal acts.
The SRC said the package will be again placed for public discussions after some elaboration. Earlier, the SRC had said that the amendments would be sent for parliament’s approval after comprehensive discussions with the Central Bank and other interested bodies.
According to an opposition MP Tadevos Avetisyan from Hayastan alliance, under the proposed amendments, tax authorities are to have direct and full access to information on the bank accounts of individuals and legal entities.
“The populist and fictitious packaging of the amendments is all the same –fighting against the shadow sector of the economy. In reality, the proposed amendments are meant as new tools of tax terror. Now they want to liquidate protection of bank secrecy, vesting tax authorities with powers of court,” Avetisyan wrote.
“These changes will very quickly lead to capital flight from the Armenian banking system. In fact, a tax inspector would possess full information about the bank accounts of any citizen, including employees of private organizations, friends, relatives of persons engaged in economic activities, etc., without a court decision,” Avetisyan wrote. -0-
