2019 April 3

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Apr/3/2019: Pashinyan testifies in court...... PM questioned in March 1st case..... Company employee admits they stole billions.... Gas stations can't scam anymore.... Human Rights Ombudsman.... Mayor charged..... More IRS.... Teaching finances to kids.... Low incarceration.... more!
by ar_david_hh

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

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While in court for an unrelated case, Pashinyan said he was earlier questioned as part of the March 1st 2008 investigation.

Today Nikol Pashinyan was being questioned as a witness in court. The case is about a 2017 incident that took place between his former Yelq party members and a former felon nicknamed Manakh, few days before the Yerevan municipal elections (which the HHK rigged to have Tron Margaryan elected).

Manakh allegedly attacked Yelq members with a gun.

Nikol received a call from Yelq (now QP) Alen Simonyan and learned that Manakh attacked another Yelq party member named Hayk with a gun. Nikol instructed them to leave the scene and meet him inside the campaign headquarters.

When he arrived at headquarters, Yelq members told him that earlier they discovered that Nikol's election posters were damaged and the flag was stolen. Manakh and buddies said they did it, because Yelq "had no right to use the flag". Yelq demanded the flag back. According to PM, Manakh hit Hayk. Hrmshtoc took place and Manakh removed a gun from his holster and pointed it towards Hayk. Another Yelq member hit Manakh and knocked down the gun. Yelq took the gun and left the scene. Pashinyan then went online to tell the story, and called the police, which never arrived so he went to station. (see link below for the actual aftermath video)

The defendant's lawyer Hayk Alumyan (yes, same as Kocharyan's lawyer, he is popular) asked Pashinyan how he knew the gun had live ammunition. Nikol responded saying that the gun was a revolver and the bullets were visible, and he showed it on live feed.

Alumyan asked if Nikol knew who the lead investigator was at the time. Nikol said not at the time of the investigation, but next year the investigator was a supporter of the revolution, but the main investigation was over by then. Nikol added that the investigator was not his personal supporter, but rather someone who wanted to see a change in the government.

(Alumyan was attempting to introduce a conflict of interest).

Defendant Manakh happens to be the same man who was earlier arrested for 15 years for ordering the assassination of October 27, 1999 terror witness. 🤔🤔🤔🤔

VIDEO OF THE AFTERMATH OF THE ATTACK: https://youtu.be/ne4XQ1ampk8

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https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158162 ---- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158150 --- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158146 --- Full video of testimony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DBl1V6o83g

In a bombshell letter, the former press secretary of "Security Dream" police-run gov-funded traffic equipment company has come forward and admitted that the company stole billions of drams from the budget, for years. Technical details are in the post. This company has been the epicenter of corruption scandals for a while.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/158172

Up until now, many gas stations used to scam the customers by providing less gas for the money. Some people uploaded videos showing the discrepancies. The problem is that the gas was being sold per cubic-meter. That means if the gas was warm, it would expand and the customer would receive less amount of burnable gas for the money.

The government recently passed a law requiring the gas to be sold per kilogram. This assures everyone gets what they pay for. This has resulted in some gas stations to raise their prices by 40%, reports media. "Even if the prices go up, the customers will end up paying the same money for the gas, but now with more transparency", earlier said Pashinyan.

https://news.am/arm/news/504887.html

Human Rights Ombudsman has convinced the jail to give Kocharyan an e-book reader that is not connected to the internet. The authorities have also un-froze his pension funds after the Ombudsman said its freezing was "too harsh". Kocharyan's assets are frozen because he and/or his family are accused of money laundering.

http://panarmenian.net/m/arm/news/267203

Human Rights Ombudsman's office released a statement about the violations they found during the April 2018 revolution. It states that the authorities broke numerous laws, didn't provide doctors and lawyers to those who were detained, detained the persons beyond the legally allowed time limit, riot police was misused to disperse peaceful crowds, laws were broken while detaining and questioning minors. Many people were illegally detained only because the law enforcement wanted them to "stay relevant" to some pending cases, for longer periods.

https://news.am/arm/news/505085.html

HAVEN'T HAD ONE IN A WHILE!

Mrgashat, Armavir mayor is accused of stealing 3mln worth agricultural products from the villagers between 2013-2016. He is facing 2 felony charges.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158144

Administrative fees for pawnshops have not been changed in the past 20 years, says IRS chief Ananyan, repeating that the annual 100k/yr fee was too little.

IRS wants you to know that Lfik Samo and SAS supermarket chief are now good boys who pay the taxes and print more receipts than ever.

Ananyan said the agency staff salary premiums are regulated by law and the agency staff will continue to receive them, but hinted that the amounts could be lowered.

Ananyan said the IRS collected 33% more taxes on the first quarter of 2019, compared to 2018.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158166 --- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158163 --- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158159 --- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158151

Education Ministry and the Central Bank are working on adding financial literacy courses in schools. As part of existing subjects (math, Me and Surrounding World, etc), kids and high school students will learn how to properly manage their personal finances. 12,000 teachers will undergo a re-training. 2,500 already have.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/969950.html

Transport & Communications Minister met IBM representatives. They are interested in investments, especially in the start-up world. The Minister introduced them to the Engineering City construction progress, which will house startups and labs. IBM representatives earlier met president Sarkissian.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158134

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Transport Minister also met the representatives of Italian B&G construction giant, specialized in bridges, roads and tunnels. They'll further discuss a possible co-operation in one of the sections of North-South highway construction.

He also met the representative of Japanese Mitsubishi with a similar tech investment topic.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158164 --- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158111

TAROM airlines has conducted the first Bucharest-Yerevan direct flight. The plan was agreed upon few months ago. There will be 2 weekly flights.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158147

Armenia has improved its cyber-security ranking by 32 positions on 2018, moving to 79th position. Georgia 18, Turkey 20, Azerbaijan 55, Iran 60.

https://news.am/arm/news/505073.html

Russia has the highest incarceration rates in Europe, with over 420 inmates per 100,000 population. Georgia is the second with 252. Azerbaijan 235. Armenia only 130, which is down 9% from the previous report.

https://news.am/arm/news/505074.html

Defense Ministry says the news about Armenians having over 100 deaths during the April 2016 clashes is misleading. That number includes a wider period of 2016. The actual 4-day battle deaths were 75. The Azeris had around 100 deaths, according to Azeri sources.

https://news.am/arm/news/505037.html

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been chosen as the best Arsenal soccer player of February, for scoring multiple goals and making goal passes in two matches. Arsenal is on 3rd place in the league. God save the queen and Miki's feet.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158126

First lady Anna Hakobyan went to Capitol and met Congressmen Adam Schiff and dozens of others, including those of Armenian descent. The congressmen vowed to support Armenia and its strengthening democracy. She also visited the Library of Congress.

Hakobyan will spend 2 weeks in USA. She will meet the Armenian community and collect funds for the children's' cancer charity fund. She used Azeri first lady Mehriban Aliyeva's helicopter to fly over the ocean, per sources familiar with the matter /s.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158129 ---- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/158177 ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucm4fenmhVU

Pashinyan's մուսան էլի եկելա։ Մի հատ էլ վոտանավոր գրեց․․․

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/158198

It's a tradition to play a soccer match between the ruling party and journalists. QP MPs (and 1 minister) got destroyed again, this time 14:5. The first match ended with 4:2 in favor of journalists.

https://hraparak.am/post/2084998736

Armenian embassy to Russia met the company ЭКО-1 and the latter agreed to give 203 refrigerators as a gift to the Armenian army.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158148

Ara Najaryan has been elected as the mayor of Glendale, CA. He will replace the acting mayor Zareh Sinanyan.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/158130

Update on one of the stories posted here. In Russia's southern Ingushetia region, where 80,000 people protested against Ingush president's decision to hand over eastern part of the republic to the neighboring Chechnya, it appears that the president has canceled the land giveaway plan.

Edit: This post has a correction explained here https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/b9iqog/anticorruption_main_apr42019_big_pashinyan/

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Link to original report: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/b92z6e/anticorruption_apr32019_pashinyan_testifies_in/