Thursday, July 1, 2021
Prosecutors Seek First Asset Seizures
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - A mansion in Yerevan believed to belong to the family of Vladimir
Gasparian, a former chief of the Armenian police.
Armenian prosecutors are poised to ask courts to allow the confiscation of
expensive properties and other assets of three former officials suspected of
illegal enrichment.
A controversial law enacted by the Armenian government last year allows
prosecutors to seek asset forfeiture in case of having “sufficient grounds to
suspect” that the market value of an individual’s properties exceeds their
“legal income” by at least 50 million drams ($100,000).
Courts can allow the confiscation of such assets even if their owners are not
found guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses. The latter will have to
prove the legality of their holdings.
The politically sensitive process is handled by a special division formed within
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General last September.
A spokesman for the law-enforcement agency, Gor Abrahamian, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service on Thursday that the division has investigated more than 200
individuals and believes that at least four of them had illegally enriched
themselves and their families.
Abrahamian said the prosecutors have secured court decisions to freeze their
assets worth a combined 6 billion drams ($12 million). Those include 20
properties and cash, he said.
The suspects are Vladimir Gasparian, a former chief of the Armenian police,
fugitive former Environment Minister Aram Harutiunian as well as a retired
National Security Service officer and his son.
Abrahamian said Gasparian has already visited the prosecutors’ headquarters in
Yerevan to familiarize himself with details of investigators’ claims about the
legality of properties owned by him, his wife, two children and mother-in-law.
A lawyer for Gasparian declined to say whether the once influential police
general will plead guilty to the corruption accusations.
The law in question allows an out-of-court settlement of such cases which would
require suspects to hand over 25 percent of their assets to the state.
In Abrahamian’s words, the prosecutors’ will take court action if the suspects
refuse such a settlement in the coming weeks.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed the law on asset
forfeiture as a major anti-corruption measure that will help his administration
recover “wealth stolen from the people.” Pashinian has indicated his intention
to use it against Armenia’s former leaders and their cronies.
Opposition groups and figures, among them supporters of former President Serzh
Sarkisian, have condemned the law as unconstitutional and accused Pashinian of
planning a far-reaching “redistribution of assets” to cement his hold on power.
One former official, who used to run the Armenian customs service, decided to
“donate” a luxury hotel belonging to his family to the government in late 2018
to avoid prosecution on charges of illegal entrepreneurship and money
laundering. The government has repeatedly failed to auction off the property
which was valued at $15.8 million before the coronavirus pandemic.
Armenian Officials Lacking Faith In Pashinian Told To Resign
Armenia - Government and law-enforcement officials attend a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, June 24, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that Armenian civil servants and
other state officials lacking faith in his administration must resign in view of
his party’s victory in the June 20 general elections.
Meeting with members of his staff, Pashinian argued that the Civil Contract
party won a popular mandate to implement its election platform.
“I want to say that the entire government system’s task is very clear: to
implement over the next five years what is written in the Civil Contract party’s
pre-election program and was approved by Armenian citizens’ votes,” he said.
“Therefore, it is people who believe in that program and regard it as their
operational guideline who must work in the state governance system. This is an
important precondition.”
“Those who do not believe, do not accept or have reservations [about the
program] … we find that normal. Therefore, we must wish those who have a problem
with that success in their further activities,” he said.
Pashinian did not specify any mechanisms for getting rid of government or
law-enforcement officials not trusting him. He said only that his government is
planning “major reforms of the civil service system.”
Armenian law bans politically motivated dismissals of civil servants.
During the recent election campaign Pashinian pledged to “purge” the state
bureaucracy and wage “political vendettas” against local government officials
supporting the opposition. He repeatedly brandished a hammer meant to symbolize
a popular “steel mandate” which he said he needs in order to continue ruling
Armenia with a more firm hand.
The state human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, denounced that campaign
rhetoric. He said that staff purges inevitably involve mass violations of
workers’ rights.
The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, stated earlier
this week that Pashinian’s party received a popular mandate to carry out such
purges. “The state apparatus … must unequivocally serve the victorious
[political] force,” he told Armenian Public Television.
According to Armenian press reports, several provincial governors appointed by
Pashinian are now pressuring elected heads of local communities, who supported
opposition forces during the elections, to resign. One of those governors has
publicly demanded their resignation.
The Union of Communities of Armenia, which represents the country’s elected
local administrations, on Wednesday condemned the government pressure as illegal
and undemocratic.
Pashinian already pledged to purge the government, judiciary and security
apparatus of “remnants” of the country’s former leadership in April 2020. He
accused them of trying to discredit him and scuttle his initiatives.
Pashinian Again Replaces Chief Of Staff
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian speaks at a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, June 11, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian replaced his chief of staff on Thursday for the
second time in six months.
Arsen Torosian was named to manage the prime minister’s staff on January 18. He
previously served as Armenia’s health minister.
Torosian was replaced by Arayik Harutiunian, a senior adviser to Pashinian and a
former education minister. Both men are leading members of Civil Contract.
Pashinian introduced Harutiunian to his staff later in the day. Commenting on
what was the first major personnel change made by him since his Civil Contract
party’s victory in the June 20 parliamentary elections, he said Torosian asked
to be allowed to take up one of the ruling party’s 71 seats in Armenia’s new
107-member parliament.
Pashinian also cited the need to increase the “efficiency of governance” in the
country. “The quality of governance starts from the prime minister’s staff,” he
said.
Pashinian should technically form a new cabinet and receive a vote of confidence
from the National Assembly later this summer. Neither he nor his political
allies have indicated so far whether he will replace many of his current
ministers.
Pashinian sacked seven ministers in a cabinet reshuffle announced by him in the
aftermath of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire
in November.
Armen Khachatrian, a pro-government member of Armenia’s outgoing parliament,
said on Thursday that he does not know whether the new cabinet will be
significantly different from the current one. He said he hopes that Pashinian
will pick more technocrats.
“I think that professionals must be chosen … for a number of spheres,”
Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “As regards the question of who they
have supported and what they have done, it must not matter at all.”
Khachatrian asserted at the same time that Pashinian’s staffing policy has been
too “tolerant” until now.
Sofia Hovsepian, one of several lawmakers who defected from Pashinian’s team
late last year, was skeptical about the composition of the new cabinet and its
competence. “They don’t get rid of failed officials,” she told reporters.
Hovsepian said that instead of appointing “capable individuals” to senior
positions Pashinian is planning a purge of civil servants and other state
officials who have not pledged allegiance to him. She said Torosian’s
replacement by another Pashinian ally suggests that the prime minister has not
learned any lessons from his mistakes.
The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, claimed earlier
this week that Pashinian’s party received a popular mandate to carry out such a
purge. “The state apparatus … must unequivocally serve the victorious
[political] force,” he told Armenian Public Television.
Armenian Government Expects Faster Growth In 2021
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (file photo)
The Armenian government has revised upwards its economic growth forecast for
2021, expecting a faster growth after last year’s decline.
At a cabinet session on Thursday acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said that
the economy is now projected to grow by 6 percent this year.
Earlier, the forecast was that the Armenian economy would grow by 3.2 percent
after shrinking by 7.6 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the
war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I am glad to say that while economic growth forecasts are being revised upward,
our economic growth forecast for 2021 now is 6 percent,” Pashinian said.
“It is important that in parallel with these indicators, we are quite
successfully fulfilling the revenue part of the state budget, and in this
regard, we have even over-fulfilled it during the first half of the year,” the
acting premier added.
The kind of revision comes less than two weeks after Pashinian and his political
party, Civil Contract, scored a landslide victory in snap parliamentary
elections, gaining the right to form the next Armenian government
single-handedly.
Ensuring a more dynamic growth of the economy was one of Civil Contract’s
pledges during the election campaign.
Speaking at today’s cabinet session head of the State Revenue Committee Eduard
Hovannisian presented some details of the tax collection during the first six
months of 2021.
He said that tax revenues in the period in question amounted to more than 750
billion drams ($870 million), whereas they had originally been planned at a
level of 683 billion drams.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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