2019 July 3

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption & News - Jul/3/2019: Structural changes for anti-corruption.... Education reforms: read less, do more.... Sea access plan finalized.... School director... Government plans.... Foreign affairs.... rther stories inside...
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.

---

Changes to oversight institutes will be made to better fight corruption. The Ethics Committee of High-Ranking Officials will be dissolved, and instead, there will be a Corruption Prevention Committee, which will have broader authorities. The government is discussing on what information to make public and what should be available only to the new Corruption Prevention Committee. The records will be updated once a year and old ones will be removed.

Mayor of towns with 15,000 or more population will also be required to disclose their wealth.

People who are related to newly elected officials will also be required to disclose their wealth (money and property) at the time of the person becoming a public official.

Public officials will have to explain why and how they received expensive gifts of any kind.

https://factor.am/164968.html

The police says they busted the director of Drakhtik school director with corruption. He is accused of forcing teachers to give him parts of their salary bonuses in 2010, and falsifying signatures. Between 2011-2016 he registered his son as an employee who never went to work but received salaries.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165353

Ejmiatsin mayor has been issued a penalty by ethics committee for failing to submit the wealth ownership data before the deadline. https://hetq.am/hy/article/105238

A fake document with no stamps begun to circulate in the internet since June 24th showing that Pashinyan allegedly sent a letter to NATO chief informing him about plans to withdraw Armenian troops from Artsakh.

The falsification slowly spread through various blogs by fake social media users before receiving a wider acknowledgement. Some Azeri users believed it was true and begun celebrating "the return of Karabakh".

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165356 https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165332

The Education Ministry has signed and approved the "work-based education" concept, which was offered by EU in 2017. It will change the student's curriculum to increase the hands-on experience from 30% to up to 70% of the learning material, depending on the subject. Less reading, more trying. The ministry is working with businesses to help them accept students. Many contracts already signed. Stepanavan's agriculture university will be the first one to implement the pilot program this year.

Other changes will include the creation of mini-businesses inside the educational institutes, which will allow student to receive hands-on practice and earn a small revenue for the institute.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/164972

Garbage company Sanitek has filed 2 lawsuits against Yerevan municipality and wants 65mln, claiming the city violated the contract by not paying some money. The city and the company have had rocky relations due to the company's inability to properly clean trash. In past, the city refused to make some payments claiming the work wasn't done as per contract. The city fined the company several times, and eventually decided to "compete" against the company by buying several garbage trucks.

https://factor.am/164989.html --- http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/270622/

The government wants to double the premiums paid to the 318 veterans of WW2, from 50k to 100k per month. https://factor.am/165065.html

The newly created Diasporan Affairs Committee chief Zareh Sinanyan says they'll soon finish the formation of the team of 50 workers, which is double the number from the initial proposal. They don't have a separate budget and will use Prime Minister's money because they are part of PM's office (ooff helicopter flights to US here we come).

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/980700.html

Pashinyan signed a decree to give promotions.

NSS chief Arthur Vanetsyan and police chief Valeri Osipyan will become Major Generals. The general prosecutor, SIS chief and several others also received a promotion. 👏

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165321

Shots fired. A criminal authority "thief-in-law" Andik (Andranik Harutyunyan) has been murdered with a gun. First such incident in 10 years. His dead body was brought to a hospital.

He was playing with his friends in a bisedka when a man approached, took out a gun from a bag, and fired a shot, but the gun jammed. This allowed the victim's friends to run away. The gun was then cleared and fired towards Andik. The incident was recorded on a CCTV.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sTX6F2criRM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=opRLXAJGAdM

https://m.shamshyan.com/hy/article/2019/07/03/1128987/ https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165312

Who was Andik? https://hetq.am/hy/article/105257

Ministry of Labor joins the Ministry of Education and will begin to post vacant job position ads on staff.am. https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165320

TUMO found a way to multiply with mobile TUMO In Box. They'll put gear in trucks and deliver education to provinces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1iIlpBk0F8

QP MP Armen Pambukhchyan has finished the initial version of the Marine Code that will allow Armenia to establish an Armenian cargo fleet in the Black Sea.

Landlocked countries have an international right to fly their flags and have their fleet, if they get an approval by UN. To get this approval, the country needs to have a marine code. That's what QP was working on.

The draft bill is sent to Parliament for deliberations. The author says this will improve trade and bring extra revenues to the treasury. Some countries have already expressed interest to use Armenian ships for trade with EAEU. 44 other landlocked countries have such access. Mongolia has 1,000 ships.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/980627.html

Exports rose 12% in May-2019 vs May-2018. https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/165373

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles opens a showroom in Yerevan, the biggest in the region. Various models from multiple brands will be presented. 150 out of 1000 Armenians have a car, there is a bug big potential, said director Michael Aghili.

http://panarmenian.net/m/arm/news/270612

The Armenian Soccer Federation (HFF) is officially against merging Armenian league with other country leagues. Yesterday, Russian media outlets and Pyunik club said they'd like to see a new format which would allow former Soviet republic clubs to play in the same league with Russian clubs.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/165368

ISIS has reached Azerbaijan. The jihadists, loyal to ISIS leader Abu Baku Al-Baghdadi, released a film where they threatened their "enemy" government of Azerbaijan, and Russia.

Few years earlier, thousands of radicalized Azeris crossed through Turkey into Syria to join ISIS. Defeated by allied forces, the group is now looking elsewhere to spread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_FdgGr1G8s

-- https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165343

Foreign Ministry says Azerbaijan has refused to provide additional safety guarantees for Armenian delegation to visit the upcoming UNESCO conference held in Baku. Armenia sent a formal complaint letter to UNESCO leadership.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165337

Foreign Ministry says French president Macron has decided not to sell any weapons to Azerbaijan that can be actively used against Armenians in Karabakh. Macron reminded that France is one of the few countries that follows the arms embargo rules in order not to inflame the conflict.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/165335

How to make a real tonir? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XfT5WP-0I8

How to dance in Lebanon? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi8c8SfIM-k

---

Link to original report: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/c8stt6/anticorruption_news_jul32019_structural_changes/