2018 August 22

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption 8/22/2018: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Gagik Tsarukyan's company faces criminal charges for monopolistic actions, former police chief's brother charged with making death threats, Meghrashat mayor faces a punishment for stealing the gov-supplied seeds for farmers, MORE BELOW
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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YOU SAY HEY, I SAY MONOPOLY! Criminal charges are filed against BHK Gagik Tsarukyan's company Multi-Avtotrans for anti-competitive business practices. Years earlier, two transportation companies received licenses from the government to open a bus line between several cities. They were operating without issues until Tsarukyan's company, under the guise of charity, begun providing the same transport line free of charge. The two companies were pushed out of business and had to file for bankruptcy. After this, Tsarukyan's Co purchased those two companies, thus making itself the monopoly, then begun to raise the transport costs for the residents. http://investigative.am/news/view/hakamrcakcayin-gorcuneutyun.html

NOT ABOVE THE LAW! Former police chief's policeman brother (earlier reported as nephew), who was suspended from the police force for allegedly assaulting a resident and threatening to kill him because the latter's child watered their car during Vardavar, is officially charged with making death threats to the man. He is told not to leave the country http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/142751

ANTI-ROBIN HOOD! Meghrashat mayor faces criminal charges for falsifying documents and embezzling wheat seeds worth several million AMD, which the government distributed to the farmers. http://investigative.am/news/view/mexrashat-coren.html

Ministry of Emergency Situations has so far inspected 342 gas stations and found that almost all had safety issues. Most companies were able to fix the issues within the 2-month timeframe, but some 12 have been shut down. The inspections also take place in provinces https://news.am/arm/news/467369.html

.... two of Manvel Grigoryan’s gas stations have been shut down for violating safety standards. He has also voluntarily reduced the space rental fees by 2x for traders in his local market shop. Renting a place for sales now costs AMD 30k instead of 60k. https://news.am/arm/news/467280.html

... Manvel Grigoryan is transferred to a hospital for a treatment in endocrinology https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944606/

Minister of Education says there will be changes in how directors and teachers are elected by the appropriate bodies. Calls for de-politization of schools, because in past, some have been used by politicians to intimidate and collect votes or funds from the parents, for a specific politician. https://news.am/arm/news/467297.html

Minister of Education reminds that the regular schools aren’t allowed to require students to wear uniforms, after receiving complaints from the parents that their children were sent home for not having one https://news.am/arm/news/467302.html

Criminal case is launched against Economics State University of Gyumri branch employees and the former rector, for taking bribes from 24 students in exchange for advancing them to the next semester without them attending any classes or passing exams. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944557/

Veolia Water company is given a AMD 10mln fine for failing to delivers its duties by contact. This is the second time the company faces fines. Earlier, we learned that the police was making searches in their offices. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944560/

Minister of Labor Mane Tandilyan, who initially wanted to resign due to her opposition to the new pension system but was asked to stay in position, has proposed reforms to the system. She says the person who has multiple children should pay less to the fund because their financial burden is already high, plus by having more children they are essentially helping the pension system because a younger workforce is the best solution for caring for the pensioners. People who face a situational hardship should be able to take their funds out. These proposals need an approval before becoming a law.

https://news.am/arm/news/467381.html ------ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxPOmQSf1lw

.... she says there is an agreement about significantly raising pensions for 80,000 elderly who receive noticeably less than others, instead of making small gains for the general population of pensioners https://news.am/arm/news/467382.html

.... she says there are currently over two dozen criminal cases against high ranking officials from the medical-social field, who work with registering disabled people for aid. When she asked experts for advice on how to reduce the corruption in the field, she was told that 99% of the workers must be fired and replaced. This comes from the fact that the salaries are low, so the doctors and social workers choose to take bribes. Minister says they have placed job applications but few people are applying, by knowing that now they won't be able to get the extra money through bribery. She wants the local social security agencies to be placed under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Labor, so she can better fight against the corruption

https://armlur.am/833152/ ---- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944641/

Armavir province is selected as the starting point for a combination of a new and more efficient type of anti-hail/cloud missile system and protective net deployment to protect the farms. The coverage will expand to 70% of the country. The border regions won't have the missile systems because they can be interpreted as military attacks by the neighboring countries. https://news.am/arm/news/467365.html

PM Pashinyan says there are negotiations to lower the income taxes and simplify the tax code. Calls the government "too big and slow". https://news.am/arm/news/467427.html

Pashinyan says the tax laws should also change (just a proposal for now) to eliminate the Turnover Tax for microbusinesses with less than AMD 24mln annual turnover https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944657/

March 1st suspect and former president Robert Kocharyan has met with the Russian Ambassador in his office, after several reports that the meeting was canceled https://armlur.am/833213/

BHK will use live-streaming on social media as their primary method of campaigning for Yerevan elections, after the practice was popularized by PM Pashinyan. https://news.am/arm/news/467278.html

A tech-center is currently being built on Bagrevand St. with a join cooperation between the government and the private sector. The center will have technology schools, workspace for startups,a library, 2000 new jobs and thousands of newly trained tech professionals. Some of the buildings are already finished, and the workers have begun exporting thousands of tech components to foreign buyers. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/944616/ ----- https://youtu.be/ICmD3DNvqYo?t=81

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Last week, an Azeri woman Gulnara Tarverdiyeva of Sumgayit Azerbaijan, crossed the Iran border then took a bus to Yerevan, Armenia. She is complaining about the Aliyev regime, the lack of rule of law in Azerbaijan, lack of economic opportunities, and that only the officials live with a normal life. Her house was destroyed and the maternal house taken away. She contacted the authorities with a plea of help, but nothing was done. She then told that if this continues, she will seek refuge in Armenia. In their turn, the authorities shut down her gas and electricity as a punishment. Currently, she is staying in a refugee shelter in Yerevan. She plans to learn Armenian and stay in the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0dYZxsrgEU

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/99hlvl/anticorruption_8222018_gagik_tsarukyans_company/