They say that Hovik Abrahmyan is one of the officials who have become millionaires solely through taking public positions

Armenia has been struggling with corruption for a long time, but it has brought no positive results. Another attempt at fighting the evil which damages the state and society is the first session of the Anti-Corruption Struggle Council under the government, which is headed by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahmyan.

Several councils estabished for control anti-corruption reforms. Similar councils were established by Abramyan`s predecessors – the late Andrannik Margaryan and Tigran Sarkisyan. However, Sarkisyan was a participant in a big corruption scandal himself. As a result of the so-called ‘offshore scandal’ and disclosures of other top officials who were involved in corruption schemes, the government’s ‘struggle’ against corruption had no trust among the population. Members of the Anti-Corruption Struggle Council also cause mistrust. It includes the Head Minister of the Governmental Apparatus, David Arutyunyan, and the Minister of Finance, Gagik Khachatryan. These names have been mentioned many times by the local and foreign media as top officials who have managed to accumulate massive capital solely by holding public positions.

Gagik Khachatryan

According to the local and some Russian media, Gagik Khachatryan owns several companies through assumed names: the Aperon and Megafood food import Companies, Mega Motors (the official representative of Mitsubishi in Armenia), Alliance Terminal, Ucom Company (satellite TV, telephone and internet provider), and other property. The Austrian embassy in Armenia doesn’t deny the fact that Khachatryan has bought a chocolate factory in Austria for $200 million. “Almost all kinds of companies, from the telecommunication sphere to food imports, belong to Gagik Khachatryan – Ucom, Aperon, Megafood, Megasport, Megaavto. This is corruption and nothing else,” Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition MP, believes. However, the law-enforcement agencies of Armenia haven`t shown any interest in the articles or the MP’s statement.

David Atutyunyan

The name of another member of the Council – David Arutyunyan – was mentioned in a series of articles headlined ‘Robbers of Armenia’ by the Russian newspaper ‘Versia’ several years ago. According to information which wasn’t denied by anyone, Arutyunyan and his brothers own the Kornet Provider Company. During the parliamentary elections of 2007, the leader of the party New Times, Aram Karapetyan, stated that Arutyunyan owned a flat in the center of New York. Arutyunyan, who was the Minister of Justice, didn’t go to court against Karapetyan for defamation.

The figure of the Prime Minister is also dingy in this context. 1in.am noted in one of its recent articles: “Hovik Abrahmyan is one of the officials who have become millionaires solely through holding public positions. Officially, the Prime Minister declared at the end of 2014 that he possesssed $1.8 million and 210 million drams, i.e. about $500 thousand. Parallel to Abramyan’s career growth, the property of his family was growing year by year.” It should be noted that Abramyan was mentioned among other officials in a series of articles headlined ‘Robbers of Armenia.’

It turns out that the anti-corruption struggle is headed by people who provoke a lot of questions in Armenian society. The government’s “struggle” against corruption is often combined with the authorities’ intention to protect this or that official; and this approach was used not only in the mentioned offshore scandal. The fact that the anti-corruption center of Transparency International (TI) addressed the General Prosecution Service, uncovering instances of protectionism and abuse of functions regarding the former chief architect of Yerevan, Narek Sarkisyan (when he took the position, his company architectural atelier `Narek Sarkisyan` was involved in the construction of buildings in the center of Yerevan), didn’t prevent the government from appointing him to the position of the Minister of Urban Planning last spring. And an investigation initiated due to TI’s address produced no results.

Taron Margaryan

Another bright example of such stories about scandals which were hashed up by “strugglers” against corruption was the scandal over an income declaration which was filed in April 2013 by the mayor of the capital, Taron Margaryan, ahead of the municipal elections. According to the declaration, Yerevan’s mayor (Margaryan has never been officially involved in business) had a property portfolio of at least $10 million.

The opposition party Armenian National Congress addressed the General Prosecution Service to bring the mayor to criminal account for white-washing and money-laundering. However, a criminal case wasn’t initiated.

In this context, statements about the firm will of the government to defeat corruption sound like taking the piss. TI has listed Armenia in its last report as among the five countries of Eastern Europe where no progress is registered in fighting corruption. However, international organizations continue giving money to the Armenian government to fight corruption. Recently the USA International Development Agency decided to grant $750 thousand to the Armenian government for the struggle against corruption.

At the same time, the financial support and statements by the government are not enough for the anti-corruption struggle. It demands systematic work, which is possible only in case of serious changes in Armenia.

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