2018 July 25

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption 7/25/2018: 1) Finance Ministry employees under criminal investigation for embezzlement and improper use of AMD 2.4bln 2) Lieutenant Colonel of police force under criminal investigation for forging documents and hiding information 3) Police busts large network of... (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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Prosecutors and IRS launch a criminal case against employees of Ministry of Finance and Dilijan regional IRS staff for improper use of money, abuse of power, signing illegal contracts worth AMD 2.4bln with construction companies, disregarding safety inspections, not following the rules of gov-business job licensing standards, falsifying documents to make it appear as if they spent some of the money on repair costs of a newly constructed building which would be practically impossible due to the timeframes indicated in the documents https://youtu.be/WfjtO31krVo?t=493 ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtRRbYDRDyI

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IRS launches a criminal case against “Requiem” funeral services for falsifying documents and underpaying AMD 15mln in taxes. The 6.7mln has been recovered so far https://armenpress.am/arm/news/941783/

IRS won’t prosecute small or medium businesses for small infractions. Instead, they will educate and monitor the owners on installing cash registers with receipts to reduce unpaid taxes, and other practices to bring the business to legal field https://www.a1plus.am/1634068.html

Not everyone is happy with IRS. Times magazine criticizes some of the staff picks by the IRS chief. Accuses the newest member of having been involved in a corruption story in past www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/07/25/Ժամանակ-ՊԵԿ/1446116

Prosecutors launch a criminal case against a Lieutenant Colonel of the police department for falsifying two documents and abusing power. Colonel is told not to leave the country. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/941792/ ---- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/142281

Business oversight committee conducts hundreds of searches and finds that 82% of the businesses had major irregularities. Dozens of millions has been recovered. Gas companies are told to improve safety standards, others will need to do a better job at labeling the products they’re selling, and some companies were told to properly register all employees and pay taxes https://news.am/arm/news/463487.html

Police busts a network of corrupt social services employees in Kotayk province. An employee in Charentsavan forced multiple aid recipients to give her some of the monthly payments, worth AMD 1mln in total. In Hrazdan, an employee required recipients to pay AMD 500,000 after which she gave the money to the department boss, while the second employee gathered AMD 350,000, third one AMD 160,000 for the same purposes. Yeghvard social security employee required a bribe to include a man to the list of recipients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SARtg8RRfPw

Total of 551 corruption cases were prosecuted in the first half of 2018, three times higher than in Azerbaijan for the same period http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/142263

Two “thief in laws” arrested for holding a man hostage and demanding him to give up his rights to a factory ownership https://www.a1plus.am/1634060.html

Former police chief Alik Sargsyan will leave HKK http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/142282

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25 years ago today, Artsakh and Azerbaijan held direct ceasefire talks with one another. Video https://www.aysor.am/am/news/2018/07/25/25-%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%AB/1446347

Artsakh military pays up to AMD 210,000/mo base salary to contractor servicemen, plus bonuses depending on the difficulty of the conditions, rank and training level https://armenpress.am/arm/news/941759/

The RA army and Central Bank are currently negotiating a package to give soldiers a better deal for purchasing housing. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/941820/

PM Pashinyan encourages more women to choose the military career https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0B012E0tw4

US Embassy in Armenia and Children of Armenia Foundation will provide resources for 500 students to receive advanced English classes for 2-years https://news.am/arm/news/463497.html

Harutyun Grigoryan wins Gold medal in European weightlifting competition’s 77KG youth category https://www.a1plus.am/1634073.html

Mnatsakan Abrahamyan wins Silver medal in European weightlifting competition's youth 69KG category https://www.a1plus.am/1634015.html

All the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/91vvrn/anticorruption_7252018_1_finance_ministry/