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Armen Arakelyan

Armenia’s Latest Staged Show - Yet Another Anti-Corruption Drive

Corruption and the struggle against it haven’t been topics of discussion in Armenia for a while now, and that’s not unintentional.

Only serious issues and problems needing solving are discussed in Armenia. The public doesn’t talk about corruption any more because it’s pointless, and the leadership isn’t talking about it because it believes corruption barely exists in Armenia.

Well, to be correct, the leadership says it exists but in the form of bribery, and not on the governmental level, but within society.

It was Armenia’s National Assembly President Galust Sahakyan who exposed this to be the reality in Armenia.

At a press conference held during Vice President of Uruguay Danilo Astori’s visit last December to Armenia, Sahakyan was quoted as saying the following:

It’s difficult to prove where bribery exists, where corruption exists. Of course, corruption exists in Armenia, and there’s a struggle against it, but it’s not a nationwide struggle, because any given structure in Armenia that plays a part in the public sphere that isn’t focused on corruption is certainly focused on bribery. That relates to public organizations and journalists.”

Whether corruption under the guise of bribery exists in only this sector is proven by work.  Recently, thanks to journalism, mostly doctors, lecturers and rarely inspectors, have been arrested and detained for corruption. The same applies to judges in isolated cases as well.  

But the government is clearly not ready to deal with that trivial amount of corruption. To prevent the last grains of corruption to take root, the government decided to set up an Anti-Corruption Council. And since it’s only logical that the ones who must get rid of corruption are those whose hands aren’t dirty and who have made money by the honest sweat of their brow, it was decided that Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan should head the council. 

In addition to two civil society representatives and one member of each political opposition faction in the National Assembly, the council will be composed of   Minister - Chief of Government Staff Davit Harutyunyan, Justice Minister Hovhannes Manukyan, Finance Minister Gagik Khachatryan, and Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan. It’s a bit upsetting that that the individual best versed about corruption in Armenia, Galust Sahakyan, will not serve.  That this council is really serious about rooting out the last grains of bribery and corruption is evidenced by the fact that a committee of experts, attached to the council, will also be created.

All the anti-corruption initiatives made in Armenia by the council and committees, including their programs, strategies, piles of concepts, communications, meetings and round-table discussions conducted with serious faces and clenched fists are nothing new.

An initiative with practically the same name was introduced in 2004, and that was also headed by the Prime Minister. After several years of diligent work, not only did the council draft and approve a strategy for tackling corruption, but it also drafted reforms for two generations. And the National Assembly president’s position that corruption exists only in the public sector comes from that painstaking work.

Another similar body formed in the early 2000s by the Armenian President was called the Anti-Corruption Strategy Implementation Monitoring Commission. Just how that commission concluded its undertakings is, perhaps, not important. That the work was done is all that matters. It should go without saying that with this new initiative led by Hovik Abrahamyan (apparently the previous programs weren’t well-planned), corruption is condemned and will finally be weeded out.

To achieve those results, the ministers on the council under Abrahamyan’s leadership, with a wave of the magic wand, will suddenly start to amicably declare the sources of their billions of accumulated wealth along with the methods implemented. And they’ll finally explain how they managed to stack up so many accomplishments with their modest salaries. They won’t have any choice, because the Chairman of the Armenian Committee on Ethics is also on the council.

In case you aren’t informed, there is such a committee in Armenia. The offshore affair, which was tied to former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, will finally be disclosed.

And the Minister of Justice will reveal what was the “misunderstanding” that resulted in freeing from jail, after two or three years behind bars, high ranking police officials found guilty of embezzlement and other serious criminal offences.

And the Prosecutor General will explain how officials charged with swindling the Artsakh Army out of millions in a meat provision scam walked away free after being charged.  

In all likelihood, the creation of the new council will also have an effect on the local oligarchs. They won’t wait any longer for the president to order the prime minister to examine their tax liabilities.  Of their own accord and feeling their responsibility as citizens, they will begin to document their real sales numbers, faithfully pay their taxes, break up their monopolies to encourage competition and completely stay out of politics. They also won’t pay out bribes during elections and won’t appear on political party proportionate lists of candidates.

So things aren’t really as bad as they might seem. We can consider all of Armenia’s issues with corruption solved with the formation of the Anti-Corruption Council. We can even start thinking about setting a non-working holiday marking the victory of the end to corruption.

Now all we have to do is anticipate the beginning of this new show.  

Happy viewing. 

Comments (3)

հայկ
գայլը վրան ոչխարի մորթի առած, հոտերին հսկող պահապան է դառած: Ջիվանի
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Մարդու, իրեն չպատկանող միջոցների տնօրինման իրավունքը, ծնում է կոռուպցիա: Այն որ պետական բյուջեն ոչ մեկին չի պատկանում և այն թալանվում է ներքևից հարկահավաքների, վերևից պետական գնումների և այլ միջոցներով, հայտնի է բոլորին: Վերահսկիչ պալատը դարձավ այն անդերոենյան մանուկը, որից իմացան, որ թագավորը մերկ է և իչնչպես Պարույր Սեվակն է ասել, բայց թագավորները ծածկելու են արդյոք մերկությունն իրենց, թե շարունաքկելու են նորից մերկ մնալ և հակառակը կամեցողներին կամ պարզապես ամաչողներին ստիպելու են ապրել կապված աչքերով, թե չէ հաշվում եք, հաշվում եք, հաշվում: ԱՄՆ-ի նախագահը հաճախ մտնում է օրենսդիր իշխանությունը և փող է ուզում այս կամ այն չնախատեսնված աշխատանքը կատարելու համար: Ես չեմ հանդիպել, որ մանրը վերադարձվի: Միջոցները պետք է պատկանի տնօրինողին, որից անհրաժեշտ հատկացումները կատարելուց հետո մնացածը տանելու է տուն: Պետական բյուջեն պետք է պատկանի ՀՀ նախագահին, որից բոլոր հատկացումները կատարելուց հետո մնացածը պետք է տանի տուն կամ տնից բերի դեֆիցիտը փակի, ինչպես սովորական մարդ կամ բիզնեսմեն : Տես նաև haksur.of.ru/forum
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