2018 August 1

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption 8/1/2018: 1) Business tycoon Samvel Aleksanyan pays the missing AMD 5,2bln taxes 2) Berqanush mayor charged with embezzlement of AMD 3.3mln 3) Lawyer arrested for attempting to bribe Ministry of Health staff 4) Residents contact police to report (YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT)
by ar_david_hh

Disclaimer: All the accused are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law, even if they may sound as being guilty. Currency in Armenian Drams ֏ unless specified otherwise.

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Yesterday’s update: Business tycoon Samvel Aleksanyan’s family businesses have promptly paid the missing AMD 5.2bln in taxes, shortly after NSS and IRS made the discoveries https://armenpress.am/arm/news/942404/

Nubarashen prison staff is surprised by the selection of a lesser known employee to serve as the new warden. It is suspected that he was picked for not being loyal to any specific political party, which is in line with Pashinyan’ selection methodology in the police department. Earlier, PM Pashinyan fired the Nubarashen warden. A month ago, a prison guard was arrested for assaulting an inmate and covering it up. Nubarashen has a history of human rights abuses and it is yet to be seen whether this change will improve the conditions. https://news.am/arm/news/464481.html

Berqanush mayor is charged with embezzlement of AMD 3.3mln. He stole the salary of a non-existent employee whom he "hired" as a guard, falsified other employment documents www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/08/01/Չարաշահումներ/1449288

Arshak Sadoyan and his party also welcome the criminal case against ex-pres Robert Kocharyan https://www.a1plus.am/1635427.html

Daily Idiot Award goes to... A lawyer who is arrested for attempting to give AMD 1.2mln in bribes to government employees working with the Ministry of Health, in order to help his client in a legal case. https://news.am/arm/news/464561.html

19 residents from two cities in Shirak province contacted the police to report bribery in social security departments. The staff allegedly demanded and took AMD 4.9mln in bribes in exchange for keeping the members on the list https://www.a1plus.am/1635423.html ----- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my_eOKDwJB0

Chain reaction continues. 12 people contacted the police in Abovyan and complained about the social security workers demanding bribes. Criminal investigation was launched and AMD 2.3mln in damages discovered https://www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/08/01/%D4%B1%D5%A2%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B6/1449064

ում տղեն էս ապէ? Police orders Parliament MP’s son to appear for a testimony after a citizen complains about being beaten and the car being damaged by him. https://news.am/arm/news/464518.html

The director and secretary of a government-run kindergarten in Nor Kyanq are charged with falsification of documents, avoiding taxes, embezzling AMD 2.7mln. Since the money was recovered, the criminal case that sought their arrest was dropped https://www.a1plus.am/1635461.html

The Union of Blind is demanding the administrator to step down. He is accused of corruption, embezzlement, improper use of resources https://www.a1plus.am/1635384.html

41 HHK parliamentarians collect a signature to guarantee that if the court releases former president Robert Kocharyan from prison (while the trial continues), he will not leave the country https://www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/08/01/%D4%B1%D5%A6%D5%A3%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AB%D5%B6-%D5%AA%D5%B8%D5%B2%D5%B8%D5%BE/1449201 ———— English https://news.am/eng/news/464548.html

Yerevan Council member, architect and HHK ally Levon Igityan is in hot water for telling Yerkir Tsirani leader and mayoral candidate Zaruhi Postanjyan to "get out of city and country". He has a long standing feud with her after she complained about corruption by HHK government, and once used an international platform to accuse Serzh Sargsyan of stealing public wealth and wasting it in casinos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utQOD9kXab4

Ministry of Agriculture will join the Ministry of Nature Protection and ban the use of single-use plastic bottles in its department, as part of an initiative to preserve the nature. Plastic bottles will be replaced with glass https://www.a1plus.am/1635394.html

The number of prosecutions for illegal deforestation has increased by 7x compared to previous year https://armenpress.am/arm/news/942440/

Amal Clooney, the wife of George Clooney and the world renowned lawyer who represented Armenia in international cases, has donated her salary to a Lebanese girl so she can study in UWC Dilijan international college https://news.am/arm/news/464473.html

Armenian youth team wins gold and bronze medals in Infornatika Olympics in Russia. The winner will participate in adults’ Olympics in Japan https://www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/08/01/%D5%BA%D5%A1%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%A5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6-%D6%85%D5%AC%D5%AB%D5%B4%D5%BA%D5%AB%D5%A1%D5%A4%D5%A1/1449156

Two gold medals in European championship of boat modeling. The winner keeps his title 3rd year in a row, and is the acting world champion and world record holder https://armenpress.am/arm/news/942391/

One more Sasna Tsrer is released from prison https://www.a1plus.am/1635373.html

PM Pashinyan will organize a rally on August 17th dedicated to the 100th day of the revolution, to speak about the past, preset and future of the country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTF8mEDCBPo

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American journalist in Azerbaijan is shocked at how often he saw monuments and things named after the late dictator Heydar Aliyev. ENGLISH ------- https://news.am/eng/news/464479.html ARMENIAN --------- https://news.am/arm/news/464479.html

75% of Georgians are against the legalization of marijuana. Yesterday, the supreme court ruled that it should be legal for consumption.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/93rw65/anticorruption_812018_1_business_tycoon_samvel/