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    Categories: 2018

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/20/2018

                                        Wednesday, 

Pension Reform Bill Approved By Parliament

        • Nane Sahakian

Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 8 February 2018.

The National Assembly approved on Wednesday the new Armenian government’s 
decision to complete an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system which 
was launched four years ago.

The new Western-backed system is to cover 280,000 or so Armenian workers born 
after 1973. It requires them to earn most of their future pensions with monthly 
financial contributions to one of two private pension funds operating in 
Armenia. Both funds are owned by European companies.

The former government, which embarked on the pension reform in January 2014, 
said that the existing mechanism for retirement benefits is not sustainable 
because of Armenia’s aging and shrinking population. But it decided to make the 
new system optional for private sector employees until July 2018 in response to 
angry street protests.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the reform when he presented his newly 
formed cabinet’s policy program to the parliament earlier this month. But in a 
major concession to Armenians affected by it, the cabinet approved on June 11 a 
bill that would temporarily cut their pension tax rate from 5 percent to 2.5 
percent.

The move prompted Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilian, who was one 
of the organizers of the 2014 protests, to step down. Her resignation has still 
not been formally accepted by Pashinian.


Armenia - Workers demonstrate against a controversial pension reform, Yerevan, 
8May2014.

Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian presented the bill to the National Assembly 
on Tuesday. He insisted that the effective privatization of the pension system 
is “the only way to ensure that people get pensions worthy of their work after 
retirement.”

The parliament passed the bill in the first reading by 78 votes to 2. Seven 
other deputies abstained. All of them represent the Armenian Revolutionary 
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Pashinian’s coalition partner which has opposed 
the reform.

The Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated Minister for Economic Artsvik Minasian openly 
objected to the bill on June 11. His objections clearly irritated Pashinian, 
who said that all ministers must share “collective responsibility” for 
government policies.

Businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s bloc, which is also part of the ruling coalition, 
has also criticized the reform in the past. Still, most of its deputies voted 
for making the new system mandatory for all Armenians aged 44 and younger. One 
of them, Mikael Melkumian, said Janjughazian’s remarks on the parliament floor 
largely dispelled their misgivings for the time being.

Deputies from the Yelk alliance, of which Pashinian is a leader, likewise 
voiced conditional support for the bill. Edmon Marukian, another Yelk leader, 
said he expects the new government to consider modifying the new system later 
on. Pashinian made clear later on Tuesday that he is open to such discussions.

According to government officials, over 200,000 people are already covered by 
the new pension plan.




Former Authorities ‘Knew About Ex-General’s Corruption’

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Parliament deputy Artur Gevorgian speaks to journalists in Yerevan, 
.

Armenia’s previous governments were aware of retired General Manvel Grigorian’s 
corrupt activities but did not allow law-enforcement bodies to prosecute him, a 
lawmaker until recently affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party 
(HHK) claimed on Wednesday.

Artur Gevorgian also said that many other individuals in the country are even 
more corrupt that Grigorian, who was arrested on Saturday on charges of illegal 
arms possession and embezzlement.

“In terms of corrupt practices, Manvel Grigorian is probably not on the top 100 
list [of corrupt persons] of this country,” he told reporters.

“They [law-enforcement bodies] now got a permission to catch him and they 
caught him,” he said. “They didn’t have permission before and so they didn’t 
catch him.”

Gevorgian is one of several parliamentarians who have defected from the HHK 
since the former ruling party’s leader, Serzh Sarkisian, resigned as Armenia’s 
prime minister on April 23 amid massive protests against his continued rule. 
Significantly, the 43-year-old former boxer is the son-in-law of Vladimir 
Gasparian, the former chief of the Armenian police.

Gasparian was fired two days after the Armenian parliament elected Nikol 
Pashinian as prime minister on May 8. He ran the national police service for 
seven years.

Independent and opposition-linked media outlets have long accused General 
Grigorian, who served as deputy defense minister from 2000-2008, of corruption, 
violent conduct and other abuses.

Grigorian strongly supported Sarkisian throughout the latter’s decade-long rule 
and was twice elected to the parliament on the HHK ticket. He has headed the 
Yerkrapah Union, an influential organization uniting thousands of veterans of 
the Karabakh war, for almost two decades.

The ex-general was arrested immediately after officers of the National Security 
Service (NSS) raided his expensive properties in and around Echmiadzin, a 
historic town about 20 kilometers west of Yerevan. They found there large 
quantities of not only weapons but also food and other supplies meant for 
Armenian army soldiers.

An NSS video of the search caused widespread shock and indignation in the 
country. The parliament swiftly agreed on Tuesday to lift Grigorian’s immunity 
from prosecution.

Investigators claimed on Wednesday to have confiscated more canned food which 
they believe was embezzled by Grigorian and hoarded in at least two other 
locations, including a house in Karabakh owned by him.




Press Review



“Zhamanak” wonders if the new Armenian government’s anti-corruption drive will 
target “the former number one figures” of the state. The paper suggests in this 
regard that the arrested General Manvel Grigorian could have hardly embezzled 
supplies to the armed forces without Serzh Sarkisian’s knowledge.

“Hraparak” also says that Grigorian’s arrest and embarrassing revelations made 
by the National Security Service (NSS) raise many questions about the scale of 
corruption in the country and the armed forces in particular. The paper says 
law-enforcement authorities must look into the possible involvement of other 
senior military officials in such illegal activities.

“Zhoghovurd” likewise tries to understand “how all this happened” and who 
Manvel Grigorian’s “accomplices” are. “It is evident that Grigorian did not act 
alone,” writes the paper. “And as the head of the National Security Service, 
Artur Vanetsian, said the other day, further sensational revelations await us. 
We are talking not just about members of the Yerkrapah Union and the general’s 
friends but also members of his family. In this sense exposures have already 
begun and it is Manvel Grigorian’s wife, Colonel Nazik Amirian, who has 
primarily found herself at the center of law-enforcers’ attention.”

“Aravot” reports that the Armenian police “disarmed” on Tuesday Hovannes 
Hovsepian, the former head of the State Revenue Committee and Serzh Sarkisian’s 
Oversight Service, and his bodyguards. “Police officers stopped his motorcade 
and found a whole arsenal in their cars,” says the paper. “The current and 
former officials and oligarchs have such a habit of moving around the city in a 
motorcade of several cars. This is their preferred method of asserting 
themselves.” It hopes to see similar operations against dozens of other 
notorious individuals “so that they realize that their time is gone and that 
they are not feudal authorities anymore.”

(Tigran Avetisian)



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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