Wednesday,
Serzh Sarkisian’s Trial To Start On February 25
• Naira Nalbandian
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian (R) and Agriculture Minister Sergo
Karapetian (L) visit Armavir province, April 7, 2011.
Armenia’s former President Serzh Sarkisian will go on trial next Tuesday on
corruption charges which he rejects as politically motivated.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) charged Sarkisian in early December with
organizing the “embezzlement by a group of officials” of 489 million drams (just
over $1 million) in government funds allocated in 2013 for the provision of
subsidized diesel fuel to farmers.
The SIS claimed that Sarkisian interfered in a government tender for the fuel
supplier to ensure that it is won by a company belonging to his longtime friend,
businessman Barsegh Beglarian, rather than another fuel importer that offered a
lower price. It also indicted Barseghian, former Agriculture Minister Sergo
Karapetian, his former deputy Samvel Galstian and another former government
official.
All five suspects deny any wrongdoing. None of them has been held in pre-trial
detention.
Galatian’s lawyer, Vachagan Kosian, said on Wednesday that during the trial he
will petition the court to throw out the accusations leveled against his client.
He claimed that the latter is unfairly prosecuted for only relaying a “verbal
order” issued by Karapetian to another Agriculture Ministry official.
Karapetian headed the ministry during the alleged embezzlement. The high-profile
criminal case is reportedly based on his incriminating testimony against
Sarkisian and Beglarian.
According to Beglarian’s lawyer, Nikolay Hakobian, the ex-minister stood by that
testimony when he and the wealthy businessman were brought face to face and
interrogated by the SIS earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Hakobian described as “baseless”
investigators’ claims that his client “prodded” Sarkisian to have the fuel
supply contract awarded to his firm.
Sarkisian’s lawyers and the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
still headed by the 65-year-old ex-president strongly deny the embezzlement
charges. They say that he is prosecuted in retaliation for his public criticism
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Sarkisian, who ruled Armenia from 2008-2018, accused Pashinian’s government of
jeopardizing democracy and stifling dissent in a November 20 speech at a
congress of the European People’s Party held in Croatia. He had kept a low
profile since resigning in April 2018 amid mass protests against his continued
rule led by Pashinian.
Pashinian has repeatedly implicated Sarkisian, his family and political
entourage in corruption both before and after coming to power in the “Velvet
Revolution.”
Senior Military Officials Sacked
Armenia -- Generals Artur Baghdasarian (C) and Aleksan Aleksanian (second from
right) at a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, February 17,
2020.
The chief of Armenia’s military police and another army general were dismissed
on Wednesday following a spate of non-combat deaths of soldiers.
President Armen Sarkissian fired Major-General Artur Baghdasarian and
Major-General Aleksan Aleksanian in separate decrees requested by Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian.
Baghdasarian has headed the military police since May 2017. He was promoted to
the rank of army general as recently as on January 24.
For his part, Aleksanian was the chief of an Armenian army department tasked
with monitoring and maintaining military morale. He had been appointed to that
post last November.
Pashinian promised major “personnel-related decisions” after meeting with
Armenia’s top military and law-enforcement officials on Monday to discuss recent
weeks’ increase in the number of soldiers dying in non-combat circumstances.
The Armenian military has reported 13 such deaths since the beginning of this
year. Eight of these soldiers have died in accidents and other circumstances not
related to their military service.
The five other victims are believed to have committed suicide or been shot dead
by other servicemen in separate incidents investigated by law-enforcement
authorities. The shootings have caused outrage in Armenia and cast a renewed
spotlight on the chronic problem of hazing and other abuses in the army ranks.
The chief of the army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian, on
Tuesday briefed lawmakers on ongoing efforts to root out the “criminal
subculture” and strengthen discipline in the army ranks. Speaking after that
meeting, he confirmed that “personnel changes” within the top army brass are
imminent.
Davtian also said that a number of other officers have already been demoted or
discharged from the armed forces this month because of the non-combat
fatalities. He expressed confidence that military investigators will identify
those directly responsible for them.
Pashinian stressed on Tuesday that the number of non-combat deaths among
Armenian military personnel fell to a “historical low” last year. “Our objective
is to maintain this dynamic,” he wrote on Facebook.
Armenian Tax Audits ‘Far More Effective In 2019’
Armenia -- The entrance to the State Revenue Committee headquarters in Yerevan,
November 29, 2018.
Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) said on Wednesday that it more than
doubled last year the total amount of additional taxes collected as a result of
tax audits.
The head of the government agency, Davit Ananian, stressed that it achieved the
sharp increase despite reducing the number of the audits of company accounts by
12.5 percent.
“In 1,020 audits conducted in 2019, we mandated the payment of 83 billion drams
($174 million) in additional sums,” the Armenpress news agency quoted Ananian as
telling journalists.
By contrast, he said, the SRC conducted in 2018 1,166 audits but raised only
about 36 billion drams as a result.
The SRC’s overall tax receipts rose by 16 percent, to just over 1.5 trillion
drams ($3.2 billion), last year. Government officials say this sizable increase
was made possible by SRC’s continued efforts to improve tax administration and
combat tax evasion. Faster economic growth recorded in Armenia also contributed
to it.
During such audits companies inspected by the SRC are allowed to adjust their
revenues and avoid penalties. They will risk criminal proceedings if tax
inspectors suspect them of deliberately underreporting their earnings.
One of Ananian’s deputies, Eduard Hovannisian, said in December that the SRC is
now conducting 330 criminal investigations into suspected instances of serious
tax fraud.
The Armenian government’s tax revenues are projected to reach almost 1.7
trillion drams (US$3.6 billion) this year.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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