2018 September 27

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Sep/27/2018: 🔥 STATE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE 🔥 says AMD 1.5bln to be returned to budget soon, MORE CORRUPTION FOUND in municipalities and a university. MILITARY PROSECUTORS busted AMD 409mln corruption schemes, charges up 78%; SIS/NSS/JUDGE questioned by the IC Committee (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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The State Oversight Committee chief David Sanasaryan says in the next 3 months, the agency’s work will result in the return of stolen AMD 1.5bln into the budget. They have discovered corruption in the Agrarian University and Ejmiatsin municipality (former mayor was Manvel’s son). Another mayor has voluntarily returned an embezzled funds, employees of Homeland-Diaspora gov-funded organization have already returned half of the stolen AMD 100mln https://news.am/arm/news/473232.html

On 1H2018, military prosecutors have uncovered hundreds of corruption cases worth AMD 409mln in the military, out of which 405mln was recovered. For comparison, on 1H2017 around AMD 29mln was recovered from 69mln. The number of persons charged with the corruption is up by 78% http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145140

Investigatory Commitee of Armenia (not to be confused with SIS or Parliament's newest committee) has questioned the NSS chief, SIS chief and the judge who was mentioned in the audio leak. The purpose is to find out if there was an abuse of power by the officials https://news.am/arm/news/473185.html

Criminal case is launched against multiple companies in Katnajur for falsifying documents, embezzling public funds and conspiring together to do a poor quality construction job and steal the remaining funds while repairing the local water pipes http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145101

NSS chief Vanetsyan says in the near future they’ll publish more details about the criminal investigation in which Robert Kocharyan is accused of obtaining a hotel illegally. Vanetsyan says he misspoke earlier when he said it was done through a $6mln bribe, and in reality, that money was obtained through other criminal means https://news.am/arm/news/473221.html

The foreign ministry has revoked the diplomatic passports of 254 individuals who are no longer or have never been diplomats, after the previous administration’s generous giveaway. Soccer player Henrikh “permanently-injured” Mkhitaryan lost the diplomatic status too. His mom earlier said his son understands why and doesn’t have any complaints. The Ministry has received a criticism for not revoking the status of president Levon Ter-Petrosyan's wife. The Ministry says they've followed the protocols while creating the list http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145130

10 pedagogues at kindergarten N92 were allegedly fired by the director for refusing to participate in — what appeared to be — an illegal fundraising. One of them recorded an audio conversation in which the director admitted that the funds were meant for her, and that the employees were fired for not paying and writing a complaint to the police on another occasion https://armlur.am/842347/

NEWS.am is suing a journalist from 1in.am for an alleged defamation in a Facebook post in which NewsAm was accused of publishing a sponsored article from ARF without a proper disclosure. 1inAm says NewsAm accidentally gave away the fact that it was sponsored https://www.1in.am/2433433.html

The government approves an amendment to the law that will allow divorces to take place without involving the courts, if both sides have agreed on the terms in between themselves and have no other complaints. (The package still needs to be approved by the Parliament) https://news.am/arm/news/473197.html

... proposal is made to made the higher court judge selection and hearing process open, instead of behind the closed doors https://news.am/arm/news/473202.html

... a AMD 421mln aid package is approved for 33 initiatives in 9 provinces to improve the economic infrastructure https://armenpress.am/arm/news/948801/

PHOTO: PM Pashinyan flying from New York to Paris on the Economy Class http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145094

The Turkish authorities at Sebastia will use 4mln Liras to repair an Armenian church https://news.am/arm/news/473069.html

Armenia establishes diplomatic ties with Kiribati https://armenpress.am/arm/news/948755/

Armenian chess team defeats Greece in the Chess Olympiad, securing the 4th victory in the tournament. The next game will be against the Azerbaijani team, which also has 4 victories so far http://chess-results.com/tnr368908.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=ARM&flag=30

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/9jg043/anticorruption_sep272018_state_oversight/