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RPA AND NA CENTERS OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION
Karine Ionesyan
17:20 27/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/interview/view/29114
Interview with Chairwoman of Transparency International Anti-Corruption
Center Sona Ayvazyan
How it happens that parliamentary members accumulate such wealth with
their low salaries?
We know that parliament is composed of businessmen, who are rich and
their presence there guarantees complete immunity. I mean they are
not held responsible, though RoA Constitution sets parliamentarians
can't engage in business activities. They, most probably, don't pay
taxes so they get richer.
Do they get richer after assuming their office in the parliament?
Since everything has become more transparent only now, we have no
data from previous years relating to some parliamentarians and we
can't compare. It will be possible to say in a few years.
Do NA activities help parliamentarians avoiding taxes?
They get political levers, they get the possibility to influence on
the adoption of laws which guarantee their business security. This
is a sort of political corruption.
According to our research, the richest parliamentary members are
Republicans, excluding PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.
The Republican Party seems a union of businesses, it can hardly be
called a party, it is criminal group which appeared in the NA and
is now forming the political agenda proceeding from the interests of
several people.
MPs provide annual property declarations to Ethics Commission. Do
those numbers correspond to the reality?
We can't know that. Only investigative journalists can. But it will
be difficult anyway because it is kept secret: high ranking officials
register their property at their relatives. The process of declaration
of property does not regard the relatives of parliamentarians, so
they are not held responsible.
Are there no supervision mechanisms?
First, Ethics Commission's activities are technical and they don't
study data. They don't check whether the property of a certain figure
could be obtained with their salaries. Several years ago, we turned to
relevant bodies with the request to study Tigran Arzaqantsyan's case,
since he has shares in some companies. Relevant bodies affirm that
if that person is not the executive director, he can't be considered
involved in business. But it is their interpretation.
Has any MP been held responsible for doing business?
No. When investigative materials appear, we turn to the Ethics
Commission, but as a rule, the law enforcement bodies see no corpus
delicti. They don't fulfill their duties being engaged in sponsorship.
Many declare their properties as real estate, and very often, it
is impossible to find out the real price. So you think they conceal
anything?
Full declarations and the published part are different. The data are
not fully released because it is a secret, so some important figures
remain out, such as the series of cars, the annual turnover etc. But
this is a shortcoming of the legislation.
What solutions do you propose?
First, the laws need to be amended to eliminate these shortcomings.
The commission of high ranking officials should not be under the
president. The illegal enrichment is not criminally punished: Armenia,
signed the UN convention on corruption fight, but signed the point
on the illegal enrichment with reservations. People should be held
responsible for illegal enrichment.
Karine Ionesyan
17:20 27/02/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/interview/view/29114
Interview with Chairwoman of Transparency International Anti-Corruption
Center Sona Ayvazyan
How it happens that parliamentary members accumulate such wealth with
their low salaries?
We know that parliament is composed of businessmen, who are rich and
their presence there guarantees complete immunity. I mean they are
not held responsible, though RoA Constitution sets parliamentarians
can't engage in business activities. They, most probably, don't pay
taxes so they get richer.
Do they get richer after assuming their office in the parliament?
Since everything has become more transparent only now, we have no
data from previous years relating to some parliamentarians and we
can't compare. It will be possible to say in a few years.
Do NA activities help parliamentarians avoiding taxes?
They get political levers, they get the possibility to influence on
the adoption of laws which guarantee their business security. This
is a sort of political corruption.
According to our research, the richest parliamentary members are
Republicans, excluding PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.
The Republican Party seems a union of businesses, it can hardly be
called a party, it is criminal group which appeared in the NA and
is now forming the political agenda proceeding from the interests of
several people.
MPs provide annual property declarations to Ethics Commission. Do
those numbers correspond to the reality?
We can't know that. Only investigative journalists can. But it will
be difficult anyway because it is kept secret: high ranking officials
register their property at their relatives. The process of declaration
of property does not regard the relatives of parliamentarians, so
they are not held responsible.
Are there no supervision mechanisms?
First, Ethics Commission's activities are technical and they don't
study data. They don't check whether the property of a certain figure
could be obtained with their salaries. Several years ago, we turned to
relevant bodies with the request to study Tigran Arzaqantsyan's case,
since he has shares in some companies. Relevant bodies affirm that
if that person is not the executive director, he can't be considered
involved in business. But it is their interpretation.
Has any MP been held responsible for doing business?
No. When investigative materials appear, we turn to the Ethics
Commission, but as a rule, the law enforcement bodies see no corpus
delicti. They don't fulfill their duties being engaged in sponsorship.
Many declare their properties as real estate, and very often, it
is impossible to find out the real price. So you think they conceal
anything?
Full declarations and the published part are different. The data are
not fully released because it is a secret, so some important figures
remain out, such as the series of cars, the annual turnover etc. But
this is a shortcoming of the legislation.
What solutions do you propose?
First, the laws need to be amended to eliminate these shortcomings.
The commission of high ranking officials should not be under the
president. The illegal enrichment is not criminally punished: Armenia,
signed the UN convention on corruption fight, but signed the point
on the illegal enrichment with reservations. People should be held
responsible for illegal enrichment.