2018 September 28

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Sep/28/2018: BHK is accused of violating law by paying observers to participate in their rallies; 5000 illegal buildings near Sevan to be demolished in future; Copper mine is audited; Hetq reveals how old-gov members privatized land then bought it through auctions; (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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NSS chief Vanetsyan says the audio leakers edited out parts of the phone conversation where he is asking the SIS chief to make sure everything is done properly according to law, before pressing charges against Robert Kocharyan. In another occasion, he can be heard asking the same thing about Yuri Khachaturov. Vanetsyan says the conversations lasted 20 minutes but the leaker cut it and only kept specific parts to frame a narrative https://armlur.am/842585/

Remember the pre-election day altercation between election observer committee’s Daniel Ionessyan and several BHK members who interrupted their live-stream? More details are revealed. That day, Ionessyan wrote that they have proof that BHK was paying money for people to participate in their rallies. BHK got upset and interrupted the meeting. Today, Ionessyan released the phone conversation with a woman who admitted to receiving the fund. She also has a role of some form of an observer, which raises the question of the legality of such payouts. The electoral commission is also investigating Ionessyan himself for speaking about this incident on the pre-election day, because on that day it’s prohibited to hold any rallies or do a propaganda. BHK says Ionessyan’s conference violates the rules. Ionessyan says they were disclosing the commission's findings of "illegal activities". https://sut.am/archives/4126

IRS will use an electronic communication with businesses for certain types of information transfers in order to reduce the corruption and bribery risks by human agents http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145222

Armenia’s debt-to-GDP ratio has been reduced to 55% for 2018, compared to 59.2% that was on 2017. On January of 2018, HHK administration was expecting it to be 57% for 2018. Over $115mln in debt was paid off and fewer funds were borrowed, as part of new administration’s policy of borrowing less and using the funds more efficiently. Next year, it is expected that the debt will be reduced further to 53.4% of GDP. http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145212 ---- http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/250628/

After being shut down 10 years ago, the country’s second sugar processing factory will be opened in Sevan, providing a much needed competition and less reliance on imports. Hundreds of jobs will be formed http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145225

The car servicing companies that were earlier caught avoiding taxes, have repaid an additional AMD 105mln https://armenpress.am/arm/news/949012.html

The second Carrefour (qarfur) Supermarket will open in Yerevan during the Francophone summit on October 11-13. The French ambassador hopes the political change in Armenia will result in more investments. Plans to organize an investor meeting at TUMO. http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145201

Hetq strikes again. Releases an investigation showing how on 2007, the government handed over expensive lands to Tsakhkadzor municipality, which then sold the land through auctions to the same high ranking government officials and oligarchs http://hetq.am/arm/news/93475/pashtonyanery-tsaxkadzorum-60-hektar-antar-en-sepakanashnorhel.html/

Minister of Environmental Protection says Arpa-Sevan water canal construction will begin on 2019, will provide a significant amount of water to lake Sevan. Says they’re considering to aid the growth of կողակ fish which feeds on harmful biological elements, thus keeping the water clean. Says there are 5,000 illegal buildings near the lake that were illegally authorized by judges to be built close to the lake, and they will all be destroyed at the expense of their owners, because the lake water levels are expected to rise sometime in future (risen 3cm so far this year) and those buildings would cause environmental issues. Surrounding businesses will be required to use water filters to reduce the nearby water pollution, http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145196 —- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/948950.html

... Factor TV creates an investigative piece detailing the owners of some of these nearby buildings. Can you guess who they are? https://factor.am/86540.html

Audit at Alaverdi Copper mine shows a AMD 380mln damage to the environment. The previous government allowed it to continue while instructing the company to use specific filters, while knowing it was unrealistic. Nothing realistic was done to stop the pollution or inform the public. Now, the company is instructed to hold a public hearing and notify the neighboring residents about the situation http://hetq.am/arm/news/93452/shrjaka-mijavayrin-alaverdu-dzularani-pattcharats-vnasy-kazmel-e-mot-380-mln-dram.html

Armenian chess team lost to Azerbaijan on the 5th round of Olympiad with a 2.5/1.5 score. The female team played an important tie against the Chinese https://armenpress.am/arm/news/949031.html

Pashinyan briefly met with Ilham Aliyev. They discussed the recent ceasefire violations and agreed to take steps to reduce them. New diplomatic channels will be established for communication. http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/145250

The world’s biggest gata is added to the Guinness Book. It is 60m and weighs 368KG https://armenpress.am/arm/news/949029.html

The NSA employee who transferred top secret files to his home PC running Kaspersky antivirus and inadvertently causing the files to be uploaded to Kaspersky’s Russian servers for malware analysis, has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for improper handling of secret emails files. The incident sparked a debate which led to the US government banning Kaspersky from its machines https://www.cnet.com/news/ex-nsa-employee-gets-5-years-in-prison-for-taking-home-top-secret-files/

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/9jq2gl/anticorruption_sep282018_bhk_is_accused_of/