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Policy Forum Armenia: â€œAmong high-level officials of the current and previous administrations, who allegedly have been involved in large-scale embezzlements and criminal conduct, the former president Robert Kocharyan knows no rivalsâ€

23 October 2013 17:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. US-based Policy Forum Armenia non-governmental organization has made a detailed and analyzing report entitled “Corruption in Armenia”.

APA reports that the NGO is mainly composed of Armenians living in the U.S. and having influence on scientific circles. It aims to strengthen economic development and national security through innovative and practical recommendations.

These include law enforcement, military, public procurement, health, education, and money laundering. Finally, it provides detailed recommendations on how to fight corruption and mismanagement in these sectors.

Among high-level officials of the current and previous administrations, who allegedly have been involved in large-scale embezzlements and criminal conduct, the former president Robert Kocharyan knows no rivals. A recently-formed “anti-corruption”

NGO put him on the top of the list of the most corrupt individuals in Armenia. Media reports place him on top of a sizable financial and economic conglomerate with assets both inside and outside Armenia.

Another famous case involves the former Minister of Natural Resources, a ruling

Republican Party MP and the chairman of Parliament’s standing committee on Economic Issues, Vardan Aivazyan. According to an international award-winning series of reports by Investigative Journalists of Armenia, during 2001-07 this individual issued several lucrative mining licenses to his family members. He was found guilty by the Southern District Court of New York for demanding a kick-back from Global Gold Mining, LLC and was ordered to pay the company a $37.5 million fine.

Another high-level official, who allegedly owns lucrative mining interests is the Speaker of the Parliament, Hovik Abrahamyan. Recently, the same group of investigative journalists revealed facts of ownership of a Cyprus-based off-shore entity by the current Prime Minister, Tigran Sargsyan. Finally, media reports have linked Head of the State Tax and Customs Agency, Gagik Khachatryan, to massive wealth through the ownership of a major Internet and cable TV service provider, two food-importing companies, one supermarket, a car dealership, a luxury watch store, and a company that has a legal monopoly on supplying paper for cash registers, among other assets.

The systemic corruption in the defense establishment has resulted in:

The inefficient use of state resources allocated to defense. This includes large-scale embezzlement and waste. Poor management of the Armed Forces. Nepotism and resulting flawed selection of personnel, causing the formation of special interest groups that subordinate public and national interests to personal and clan interests The formation of a governing criminal-oligarchic system under a disguise of democracy; the unconstitutional use of armed forces for cementing power and/or threatening to employ such forces to usurp authority.

As a consequence of corruption, the preparedness, security capacity, and wherewithal of the state defense are greatly diminished.

The full text of the report is available in: http://www.pf-armenia.org/sites/default/files/documents/files/PFA%20Corruption%20Report_1.pdf