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CLEANSING OR COMPROMISING COMMITTEE?
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country24773.html
Published: 11:52:56 - 11/01/2012
The creation of the Committee of Ethics of senior officials should
be seen primarily in the context of Serzh Sargsyan's preparations
for the upcoming parliamentary elections in May.
Since Serzh Sargsyan needs to do everything to force the criminal
oligarchs from parliament whom he owes his election, as well as prevent
Robert Kocharyan's team from parliament, we should admit that the
creation of the Committee can be instrumental for the solution of
these tasks.
The analyses and reports of the Committee on the income and property of
senior officials may not match the declarations presented by officials
themselves, and this can be the necessary reason for eliminating them
from party lists. One can object that Serzh Sargsyan can simply not
include the people on the Republican ticket who are undesirable for
him without resorting to the services of the Committee but there is
an opinion that Sargsyan will not have enough power for this. It is
not clear that the greater part of oligarchs would not like to leave
the political platform willingly.
The Committee of Ethics will hardly be used exceptionally against
those Republican members of parliament who are not loyal to Serzh
Sargsyan. It can be an instrumental against the Prosperous Armenia
Party the leader of which is believed to be one of the richest people
in Armenia. And if the tax service reveals financial breaches in
Tsarukyan's companies, the Committee can find this a "breach of
ethics".
In other words, the Committee can be a public instrument for collection
of compromising materials. By and large, independent from who will
use the collected information in the initial stage, it is evident
that Armenia needs a structure controlling the income and behavior
of officials.
Armenia is among those few countries where no lists of rich people
are released. No one knows what everyone owns and how much money the
people referring to themselves as millionaires have and how much tax
they must pay.
The lack of public "inventory" is not accidental. This has become the
favorable ground for the shadow economy. Hardly anyone will assess the
level of shadow economy in Armenia because the businessmen-officials
will decide themselves what amounts to "declare" to hide their
immense profits.
The government carries out a non-official inventory but with the
growing power of public opinion, the disclosure of information is the
most powerful political instrument. Considering these processes in
a wider context of political modernization, it is necessary to note
that the Committee on Ethics has an opportunity to play a catalytic
role to the "cleansing" process.
From: Baghdasarian
Naira Hayrumyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country24773.html
Published: 11:52:56 - 11/01/2012
The creation of the Committee of Ethics of senior officials should
be seen primarily in the context of Serzh Sargsyan's preparations
for the upcoming parliamentary elections in May.
Since Serzh Sargsyan needs to do everything to force the criminal
oligarchs from parliament whom he owes his election, as well as prevent
Robert Kocharyan's team from parliament, we should admit that the
creation of the Committee can be instrumental for the solution of
these tasks.
The analyses and reports of the Committee on the income and property of
senior officials may not match the declarations presented by officials
themselves, and this can be the necessary reason for eliminating them
from party lists. One can object that Serzh Sargsyan can simply not
include the people on the Republican ticket who are undesirable for
him without resorting to the services of the Committee but there is
an opinion that Sargsyan will not have enough power for this. It is
not clear that the greater part of oligarchs would not like to leave
the political platform willingly.
The Committee of Ethics will hardly be used exceptionally against
those Republican members of parliament who are not loyal to Serzh
Sargsyan. It can be an instrumental against the Prosperous Armenia
Party the leader of which is believed to be one of the richest people
in Armenia. And if the tax service reveals financial breaches in
Tsarukyan's companies, the Committee can find this a "breach of
ethics".
In other words, the Committee can be a public instrument for collection
of compromising materials. By and large, independent from who will
use the collected information in the initial stage, it is evident
that Armenia needs a structure controlling the income and behavior
of officials.
Armenia is among those few countries where no lists of rich people
are released. No one knows what everyone owns and how much money the
people referring to themselves as millionaires have and how much tax
they must pay.
The lack of public "inventory" is not accidental. This has become the
favorable ground for the shadow economy. Hardly anyone will assess the
level of shadow economy in Armenia because the businessmen-officials
will decide themselves what amounts to "declare" to hide their
immense profits.
The government carries out a non-official inventory but with the
growing power of public opinion, the disclosure of information is the
most powerful political instrument. Considering these processes in
a wider context of political modernization, it is necessary to note
that the Committee on Ethics has an opportunity to play a catalytic
role to the "cleansing" process.
From: Baghdasarian