2018 October 30

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Oct/30/2018: The name of the MP who will soon be arrested for a massive corruption is leaked; another customs duty company is caught underpaying taxes before 2017; HHK hopes to capture 20% of the Parliament seats; (more below...)
by ar_david_hh

All the accused are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. Currency in Armenian Drams unless specified otherwise.

FactorTV says they know who the MP is who will soon be arrested for a large-scale bribery, as mentioned by Pashinyan. It appears this isn't a "new" case, but one that the old authorities decided to ignore.

FactorTV names the suspect as HHK Aram Harutyunyan (Բուլկի Արամ). A businesswoman allegedly gave him an $8mln (AMD 3.8bln) bribe to receive a license for mining, but the latter allegedly took the money and refused to issue the license. At the time, Harutyunyan was the Minister of Nature Protection.

The businesswoman says she then contacted the police on 2015, and complained that Harutyunyan stole her bribe (lmao not a joke). She also said there was an additional $6mln (AMD 2.9bln) bribe in cash. The bribes were sent to 3 individuals' bank accounts located in Dubai, who then returned the money piece-by-piece back to Armenia. The 3 individuals suspected in the crime participation are the director of Sevan Psychiatric hospital, and two staff members of Minister (now MP) Harutyunyan.

The police has searched their homes and told them to remain in the country. The authorities are currently waiting for Dubai to send the copies of bank transfer logs so it can be used to prosecute the alleged perpetrators. It's possible that the money was sent to another offshore location from Dubai, before being sent to Armenia. This is the part Pashinyan was referring to when he said the foreign embassies are slow at cooperating with them.

This is not an official information and should be treated as a rumor for now.

https://factor.am/95045.html

Another cargo company that does import-export customs duties is caught underpaying taxes. IRS launches a criminal case for not paying AMD 119mln. The company voluntarily submits papers showing that that they've actually underpaid AMD 176mln in taxes. The money has been fully repaid. http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/147333

The paid anti-Pashinyan protests that were organized yesterday on social media, are apparently coordinated by the Reformist Party members, whose leader is a former BHK member Vahan Babayan. The vice president and another member of the Reformist Party are seen at the protests. The party says they didn't organize it, but some of their members did participate in the paid flash-mob.

One of the participants contradicts the claim, saying that the Reformist VP offered her money to participate, and that she was lied about the flash-mob being pro-Pashinyan.

It gets more interesting. One of the online recruiters is a member of of BHK's Youth Leadership committee. 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/147343

Former Defense Minister (HHK) Vigen Sargsyan says HHK will win 20% of the votes and become the second party in Parliament https://factor.am/94860.html

EU ambassador Switalski regrets that the Electoral Reforms were rejected. Says it would have brought improvements to the democracy. He believes the Pashinyan administration will attempt to pass it again in future http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/261700/

Artsakh Republic president has met the Belgian Parliament delegation. Various internal and external topics were discussed http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/147355

RISING STAR: Shant Sargsyan becomes chess world champion in youth U16 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/952726.html

DOCUMENTARY: Forest guard bikers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl0_OAwFX00

Link to original report: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/9ssmk9/anticorruption_oct302018_the_name_of_the_mp_who/