Back in February, Hetq had published extensive coverage regarding projects carried out in Armenia by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

It turns out that Armenia lost out on $500,000 million in aid from the organization and that $150,000 worth of medicines had been left on shelves past their usage dates.

Hetq also reported about a number of abuses involved in the Global Fund operations here in Armenia, in particular, the fact that Armen Karapetyan, who heads the Financial Department over at the RA Ministry of Health had been receiving a salary from the program for one and a half years.

We went to the RA Civil Service Council for some clarification and to find out whether Karapetyan’s salary was above board and in keeping with the program’s regulations.

Gor Abrahamyan, Press Secretary for the Council, in a written reply, said that he had applied to the Ministry’s Chief of Staff for clarification on the issue.

In turn, the Ministry of Health replied that according to a decision taken by the Minister of Health on July 15, 2009, A. Karapetyan was appointed as "Scientific Head" of the Financial Affairs Department of the Global Fund’s Program Coordinating Group and that he served in this capacity outside his duties in the Ministry.

According to the Ministry, Karapetyan has relieved of this post on September 6, 2010 upon his personal request.

The Health Ministry’s Chief of Staff also pointed out in his reply that the Global Fund highly valued the work and financial skills displayed by Karapetyan as head of the Financial Department, his professional experience in government service and praised the fact that he imparted much of his acquired knowledge to younger staffers.

The Chief of Staff also supplied the Council with copies of supporting documents showing that Karapetyan was employed with the Global Fund during the period in question (July 15, 2009 – September 6, 2010) in a scientific capacity.

The Chief of Staff also noted that according to the RA Law Regarding Civil Service, an employee cannot assume other paid employment unless it is of a scientific, pedagogical or creative nature.

Given that Karapetyan was employed by the Global Fund in a "scientific" capacity, no laws were broken, argues the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Health.

The question naturally arises, if the Fund’s Project was being headed by such a top-level scientific manager like Karapetyan, why then did it meet with failure?