The Government of the Republic of Armenia has approved a draft bill introducing amendments to a number of laws that would allow law enforcement bodies to obtain data concerning any individual from Armenian banks.
Under the current procedure, information constituting banking secrecy can be obtained by law enforcement only if the individual in question is a defendant or a suspect.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan justified the introduction of such changes by the fight against corruption, citing a striking example involving the son-in-law of a high-ranking official: — “This topic has been discussed at great length and in great complexity, in all sorts of formats, and there have been many concerns, many apprehensions, and so on. But our political conclusion is the following: either we fight against corruption, or we do not, because a half-hearted fight is unacceptable.”
