Category: 2018

On 27.06.2018, Nazik Amiryan, who presented himself to the preliminary investigation body, was arrested on 27.06.2018 by the senior investigator of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia under the head of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the criminal case being investigated by the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia under Article 235, Parts 1, 2, and Article 179, Part 3, Clause 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.

The SIS informs that Amiryan is suspected of committing the criminal act provided for by Article 235, Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code, that he and Grigoryan illegally obtained from an unknown source the 28th and 30th Lchaapnya of Arshaluys village, Armavir marz, Lchaapnya 28th and 30th administrative district of Arshaluys village, Armavir marz, which serves as a recreation area at 46 Alaverdyan street, Vagharshapat city and at their registration and actual residence address. illegal storage of large quantities of weapons and ammunition in buildings and adjacent areas.

The investigation is ongoing.

Let’s remind that a few days ago, RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, while presenting a petition at the extraordinary session of the National Assembly, stated that the obtained evidence provides a basis for indicting Manvel Grigoryan for illegally acquiring military equipment and storing it in private houses owned by his wife Nazik Amiryan, daughter Aitsemnik Grigoryan, residents of Etchmiadzin Seyran Azaryan, Armen Hakobyan and others.

As well as for stealing someone else’s property of particularly large amounts entrusted to his trust by means of embezzlement with a prior agreement with a group of persons. There are already two defendants in this case: Manvel Grigoryan and his friend Armen Hakobyan.

On 27.06.2018, Vachagan Ghazaryan was charged within the framework of the criminal case being investigated by the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia for committing publicly dangerous acts under Article 314.3, Part 2 and Article 310.1, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

As reported by the press service of the CSI, on 27.06.2018, an investigator of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia submitted a petition to the Court of General Jurisdiction of the city of Yerevan, V. For choosing detention as a preventive measure against Ghazaryan.

On 28.06.2018, the court granted the petition, and V. Ghazaryan was detained.

Ghazaryan is suspected of committing crimes under Article 310.1 and Part 2 of Article 314.3 of the RA Criminal Code: illegal enrichment, as well as submitting false information in the declarations provided for by the RA Law on “Public Service” and concealing the information to be declared.

Let’s remind that on May 29, 2018, the first deputy head of the State Security Service of the RA National Security Service, the head of the bodyguard of the former RA President Serzh Sargsyan, General Vachagan Ghazaryan (Serzhi Wacho) and his wife Ruzanna Beglaryan, as of the day of termination of the position, submitted their property and income declaration to the ethics committee of high-ranking officials.

Thus, Vachagan Ghazaryan declared one apartment in an apartment building and 6 non-residential areas of an apartment building as movable property. Ghazaryan declared a “RANGE ROVER Supercharged 5.0” car as a movable property.

As of the day of his termination, Vachagan Ghazaryan’s funds amounted to 11 million drams, 9,500 dollars, and 12,500 euros. From January 1 of this year until the day he was terminated, Ghazaryan had 2 million 520 thousand 773 drams of income, which was generated from his salary.

Vachagan Ghazaryan’s wife, Ruzanna Beglaryan, has no movable or immovable property, according to the declaration. His funds amounted to 25 million drams, 29 thousand dollars and 17 thousand 400 euros. Ruzanna Beglaryan’s income was 3 million 240 thousand drams, which was generated from the rent payment.

Let’s remind that yesterday Vachagan Ghazaryan after being detained, during a personal search, he presented the contents of the bag in his hand at the time of leaving “Unibank” CJSC, which contained 120 thousand US dollars, as well as 436 million AMD.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee issued a message informing that as a result of the searches conducted in the “Yans” club, which actually belongs to Ghazaryan, a criminal case was initiated regarding the cases of submitting false information in the declarations or hiding the information subject to declaration, illegal enrichment. According to the CC, Ghazaryan’s wife is also the actual owner of “Yans” club, “Selena” LLC, but V. Ghazaryan, who is a high-ranking official, did not submit the declaration of his property and income to the ethics committee of high-ranking officials in accordance with the law.

Vachagan Ghazaryan’s house was also searched, where quite a lot of money was found: 35 million drams, more than 1 million dollars, 230,500 euros, expensive watches and cars. But there were no notes in Ghazaryan’s and his wife’s declarations regarding particularly large funds and valuables found during the search.” The case was sent to the CSI according to subordination.

When arresting Serzh Sargsyan’s brother, Alexander Sargsyan, the police were not informed whether his weapon was legal or not. But the law enforcement officers received information that Alexander Sargsyan had weapons with him and in his car. RA police chief Vareliy Osipyan announced this in a briefing with journalists.

According to the police chief, he was taken to the police station in order to verify the received information, but those weapons were legal.

“Now they are undergoing appropriate examination,” he said.

Regarding the question of whether there were calls or instructions regarding Sashik Sargsyan, Osipyan said that he was not given any instructions or orders. And he assured that he carries out any action within the framework of the law.

To remind, on June 25, Sashik Sargsyan was detained from Sayat-Nova Street and released hours later.

Over time, the residence at Baghramyan 26 will be returned to the presidential office.  RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this at today’s government session.

It should be noted that the draft decision on defining the location of the Prime Minister’s office was discussed at the session. According to the Minister of Justice, the decision of the Prime Minister “On approving the charter and structure of the Prime Minister’s Office” was studied and taken into account when developing the project, in point 7 of which it is stated that the location of the office is in the Republic of Armenia, city Yerevan, Marshal Baghramyan Avenue 26 and Republic Square, Government House 1. 

Pashinyan said that this issue has aroused great public interest, they are even reminded of what they once criticized. According to Pashinyan, they found themselves in a strange situation because the Prime Minister is stationed in two buildings.   

“We accept this decision to fulfill the requirement of the law. I want to record that over time it will be returned to the President’s Office. Currently, there is a procedural problem to be solved, there are agenda responsibilities, and since the Prime Minister is the head of the state according to the Constitution, some issues on the agenda are related to building conditions. But we will make what we criticized a reality. an institutional approach should not be taken to the issues,” the prime minister assured.

Nikol Pashinyan said that they will study how they can solve this problem. But it is comfortable for him to work in the government building, so later it will be recorded by government decisions and the prime minister will have one residence.

The anti-corruption fight in Armenia is being followed by the expert circles that evaluate the past and present anti-corruption fight and their features, reports “Voice of America”. 

“Armenians came out to protest against widespread corruption and inefficient economy in the country,” reports the Secretary of State by 25 US Congressmen. Mike Pompeo addressed letter. International organizations, including Transparency International, have repeatedly warned about widespread corruption in Armenia.

“We have criticized the government for many years. The former authorities did not have the political will to implement changes,” says Sona Ayvazyan, representative of the Armenia office of Transparency International.

One of the important links of corruption in Armenia is the convergence of the oligarchic economic system and the state sector, which operated in the case of about 35 percent shadow economy. The Transparency International report testifies to this. Analyst Ken Yalovitz also highlights the relevance of the problem of convergence.

“Oligarchic business circles and the government were interconnected in Armenia. This is an important issue that should be paid attention to,” says former US Ambassador to Georgia and Belarus Ken Yalovitz.

According to experts, the fight against the corruption of the former authorities was of a formal nature. A vivid example of this is the anti-corruption commission formed by the government, whose activities are considered ineffective by experts.

“The anti-corruption strategy conducted by the previous authorities was not serious. The created anti-corruption commission had a formal character. The anti-corruption body should be free from conflicts of interest,” says Stephen Gauforpe, an expert on anti-corruption.

The new government formed as a result of the Velvet Revolution declared the fight against corruption as its priority, and Prime Minister Pashinyan ruled out any tolerance for corruption. The victory of the revolution is considered as an opportunity for Armenia to establish the rule of law and eliminate corruption.

“The revolution in Armenia is a brilliant opportunity. It was unexpected, but extremely welcome, which emphasizes the will of the citizens in the establishment of democracy and the fight against corruption.”

Recently, the country was shocked by a series of corruption revelations, including developments related to General Manvel Grigoryan, the head of the former president’s security service, Vachagan Ghazaryan, and others. Many criminal cases related to abuse, embezzlement and possession of illegal weapons were initiated. Alexander Sargsyan, the brother of ex-president Sargsyan, was also among those arrested.

“The steps taken by the new authorities against corrupt generals and officials are highly commendable, but it is necessary to do more. It should not become a fight against some figures. It is necessary to carry out serious reforms in the justice and judicial systems, as well as the separation of political and economic spheres,” emphasizes Ambassador Yalovits.

According to Ambassador Yalovitz, it is important to preserve legality and protection of human rights in the fight against corruption. Drawing parallels with Georgia, he called on the new authorities of Armenia to avoid the mistakes made in Georgia.

“Saakashvili’s government began to persecute oligarchs and corrupt figures, but these actions were not accompanied by open, transparent legal processes, but only extorted money from them. They used the judicial system as a means of pressure, as a result of which many people ended up behind bars. I think it was another manifestation of corruption. I will call on the Armenian authorities to avoid it,” the former ambassador says.

He calls for a transparent fight against corruption based on free press and law. In the matter of rooting out corruption, he also attaches importance to serious public support.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan believes that small and medium businesses in Armenia need serious support. The government has serious work to do here, he said at the government meeting on June 28.

He made this statement during the discussion of the RA law draft “On making additions to the RA law on trade and services”. According to the Prime Minister, this project should be considered within the framework of supporting small and medium enterprises.

Pashinyan mentioned that the government is working seriously in this direction, and he has called a meeting on this topic tomorrow to decide exactly what needs to be done. “We have to decide exactly what to do. We have already discussed certain modifications of the ideas and came to the conclusion that it is better to measure 7 here and cut one. But we all agree that small and medium businesses need serious support and the government has serious work to do,” said Pashinyan.

The presented bill envisages a number of changes in the legislation in the field of trade and services. In particular, it is defined that a commercial network is a group of two or more commercial objects operating under common management or under the same trade mark or other means of personalization, in which the annual sales turnover exceeds 1.5 billion drams in total.

At the same time, according to Article 6, Part 5 of the mentioned law, a set of four or more commercial objects (commercial network) under common management or owned by a given business entity or operating under the same trademark or other means of personalization (commercial network) is a dominant position.

In other words, in the sense of the mentioned law, being under the common management of two or more commercial facilities or operating under the same trademark or other means of personalization is already enough to define the group of these facilities as a commercial network. At the same time, it needs to be clarified whether the taxpayer’s sales turnover of the previous or current year will be used as a basis for determining the annual sales turnover, or if a different approach is taken into account.