2019 March 25

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Mar/25/2019: ---- Lydian mining busted with using fake accounts and spying --- Council of Europe supports transitional justice reform --- Rob loses another court case --- vaxx --- 65 million more IRS-visible sales transactions --- 9 officers facing charges --- child support --- 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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Let's begin with a your Daily Cliclkbait Alert

Roboserj outlet politikAM earlier published an anonymous tip alleging that Serj's nephew Narek Gonzalez, who is set to be extradited from Prague to undergo a trial for his involvement in a shooting case in Yerevan, allegedly called and threatened the police chief Valery Osipyan, and ordered him to stop his extradition.

Osipyan denies he ever spoke with Gonzalez, and contacted Politik's editor and asked the editor to correct the "lie" about him which was published as a fact.

The outlet's chief editor refused, then mislead the public by presenting the phone call as a suppression of his speech by Osipyan.

Osipyan is urging the journalists not to spread rumors while presenting them as facts.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157432

Jamanak paper reports that Minister of Communications Hakob Arshakyan allegedly refused to cooperate with Russian-Armenian businessman to invest $200 million to create a new large telecommunication operator in Armenia, citing fears that the plan won't work. The paper points to this "veto" and says "this is why Georgia is still ahead of Armenia". The businessman allegedly said he would operate at a near loss, by collecting little or no money from some regions. (Assuming the paper is reporting accurate information.)

What the editor doesn't explain, is the risk associated with having money-driven businessmen run their companies at a near loss against the established competition. Last year, we learned how Gagik Tsarukyan, under the guise of charity, provided free transportation between two cities. All other transport operators were driven out of business due to not being able to compete against something that was now FREE. Tsarukyan then bought these competitor companies which he bankrupted, then purposely raised the transport prices, now that he had the monopoly.

https://www.tert.am/am/news/2019/03/23/zhamanak/2955172

Doctors are mad at you for not vaccinating because on things you read on the internet.

Uterus HPV virus is not only a sexual disease, but it can cause cancer among women. Vaccines not only prevent this sexual disease, but can also prevent the cancer. This vaccination practice was established on 2017, and 13 year old girls were the target. On 2019, the Health Ministry decided to expand the target group by including people up to the age of 45.

This expansion has resulted in the number of vaccinations to rise by 37%. Still, only 15% of the target population is vaccinated against this virus. The good news is the virus is rare in Armenia, and the population is OK with other types of vaccines.

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A concerned parent and a Yerkir Tsirani opposition activist are against this expansion by the Health Ministry, and in a strange decision, called the NSS to investigate the Minister's decision to expand the vaccination, which the activists say is a "national security threat". They argue that the American FDA drug safety agency and the drug's label itself says the drug isn't effective against cancer among 45-year olds.

They are correct on the last part, however, a scientific study of the drug shows that even though 45-year old women didn't display immunity to cancer unlike their 26 year old counterparts, they still received positive benefits from the vaccination because 97.9% of them developed immunity to several HVP viruses. The drug is primarily used to combat sexual disease.

The Health Ministry also says the vax expansion to 45 year olds wasn't meant to prevent cancer, but to prevent HPV virus.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157417 ----- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157451 --- https://www.rxlist.com/gardasil-drug.htm ---- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B_p8DLXfw

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cjmvpmwsLU

Put on your James Bond suite and get some 🍿. This one is wild!

The battle between Lydian Armenia (Amulsar mining) and the environmental organizations has reached a whole new level, involving spying and social media warfare.

The nature protection and inspection body, which is examining the damages to the nature, is led by a former environmental protection activist, complain Lydian supporters.

They (Lydianites) secretly recorded how the chief of this agency visited the house of an environmental activist, then called her [the activist] a whore and suggested the agency's chief should resign for a "conflict of interests".

The activist contacted the police with a complaint about the secret recordings and alleged defamation by the Lydianites. She also says the chief's visit was planned and it was a routine meeting between Jermuk residents and the agency chief, and not a secret conspiracy as presented by the Lydianite Facebook account, which has now been removed.

The police launched an investigation regarding the secret recordings, and discovered that her neighbor across the street, being a Lydian mining employee, was responsible for the spying and a collection of other info about the activist's personal life.

The neighbor then sent the recordings to another Lydian employee Hovsep A., who created the fake Facebook account and launched the smear campaign against the activist. Activist also complains that this fake account has smearing the ordinary Jermuk residents who were against the mining company.

The investigative committee concluded the spying investigation, and found that no laws were broken by the Lydian employee who recorded her, because it was done on the public space and the activist has chosen to be a public figure and conduct public activism, which means she should expect to be a subject of such attention. The activist says she'll ask the prosecutors to review the investigation results.

https://hetq.am/hy/article/102123

Now back to our regular programming

PM Pashinyan lashed out on [unnamed] university and school reactors who, for years, politicized their institutions to support the political regimes. Pashinyan says these rectors have no place in the new educational system and should find a new job.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157427

Council of Europe sent two rapporteurs to Armenia last week to familiarize with certain things. Today they submitted their results, supporting the government's plans to establish the transitional justice system (which includes asset forfeiture for large crime suspects), and various other reforms. They also hope the government will do more for LGBT rights.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157471

SIS has questioned Vazgen's former deputy Defense Minister Vahan Shirkhanyan, after the latter sent an open letter to SIS/NSS/Rob alleging that Rob rigged the 1998 presidential elections.

https://www.aravot.am/2019/03/24/1030899/

Rob Kocharyan's lawyers earlier asked the court to require SIS to clarify some parts of the document that accused Kocharyan of crimes, mainly about clarifying who Rob's circles were who were also accused of participating in some of the events, what SIS meant by "dispersing rally goers", etc. The court has refused Rob's petition, saying that now isn't the right time for this, and that it's something that should be clarified when Rob's actual court trial begins.

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157414

IRS chief: Since June 2018, businesses have printed 65 million more sales receipts compared to the same period before. Sales receipts reduce the possibility of a business hiding the income and taxes.

3/4th of the target businesses have the next generation sales machines which come equipped with ID and card scanners. They are directly connected to the IRS network.

22% of economic transactions are still in shadow, down from 25%.

IRS chief says the former oligarch Lfik Samo's business paid substantially more taxes on 2018 than before. He split some of his businesses based on various categories and made them more transparent. (This split later caused a confusion among some media outlets which reported that Lfik paid less taxes. The outlets didn't realize the same business was now operating under different names.)

https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157412 - - - https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157416

The army spokesman says 10 high ranking officers have been demoted, and 9 are facing criminal charges for making fun of other soldiers, disobedience, hooliganism, and leaving their outposts while being drunk.

It begun with one officer, who was caught with some kind of drug and had a long history of disobedience and hooliganism. The administrators of the station decided to send him elsewhere after he abused his powers. He found out about it, gathered his subordinates, and "boycotted" his departure by instructing his subordinates to leave the station, while chanting "death to the police, long live the thieves" slogan, commonly used by qyarts. Besides the demotions and pending criminal charges, as a "punishment", dozens of others in his group were sent to serve in Artsakh frontlines. Some of the soldiers' parents agreed that their sons should face justice, but they don't want them to be sent far away to Artsakh.

http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157406

Pashinyan had the second non-formal meeting with the Georgian PM, this time in Yenoqavan, Armenia. While in the same settlement, Pashinyan was briefed that the area plans for major investments to turn the region into an extreme-adventure tourist hotspot. The current tourism influx is 50,000. They plan to raise it to 250,000 by 2025.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968713.html --- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968711.html

Real estate prices in Yerevan rose 9% on Feb 2019 vs 2018. Number of transactions up 4%. https://armtimes.com/hy/article/157410

Last year the government created a program to help working mothers return to work earlier if they wish, by subsidizing 50% of the child care. As of right now, 475 women who were taking the maternity leave from work, have received the child care subsidy and returned to work.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968759.html

Armenian delegation to United Nations has been elected as the president of UN Women's Status Committee for 2019-2023.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968694.html

Armenian-Australian politician Gladys Berejiklian is the first female governor of New South Wales province. Armenian National Committee (like ANCA) has congratulated Gladys and all Armenians.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968685.html

Last Saturday was a country-wide cleanup day. Photo/video of EU ambassador, PM, prez, governors, soldiers, various ministries, and others participating in the event. Dozens of thousands of trees were planed, dozens of garbage landfills closed.

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

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEVJbiv9qnw

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http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157336 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157341 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157361 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157358 ---- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157348 ---- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157345 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157346 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157343 --- http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/157338 ---- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968651.html --- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968642.html

Armenian soccer team lost to Bosnia & Herzogovina 1:2. Yuri Movsisyan wasn't playing because he has been without a club lately, isn't properly trained, so couldn't join the national team. The coach says hopefully Yura will stop being a homeless soon.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968631.html

Gymnasts Arthur Tovmasyan and Vahagn Davtyan won silver and bronze medals in the World Cup held in Qatar.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/968628.html

.......

Robert Kocharyan's youngest son Levon Kocharyan won silver in the European ուժային եռամարտ cup .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba21ixIoGMA

A 10-year old Armenian boy from Artsakh Republic, who participated in the Russian "Voice" show, has caused an uproar in the Azeri media.

The boy said he was from Stepanakert**, Armenia**. That was enough for the Azeri press to speculate that Armenians purposely send Artsakh Armenians to competitions to provoke Azeris. 💅

http://panarmenian.net/m/arm/news/266836

Turkish army, which is currently occupying a part of the northern Syria, was seen cooperating with a terrorist organization Al-Nusra, during the Turkish army's routine monitoring of the demilitarized zone established by RU-TUR-SYR on 2018. Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organization by several nations. The Syrian army, with the help of the Russian air force, conducted air raids against the terrorist group shortly afterwards.

Turkey is growing anxious as Kurdistan continues to establish its dominance on the vast amount of area on the east of Yeprat river, which stretches all the way to the Turkish borders. Several days ago, Turkish army announced that they cooperated with Iran to conduct strikes against Kurdish militias. Iran later repeatedly denied the Turkish claim.

In another news, ISIS's last stronghold has been defeated. There are, however, thousands of fighters who remain scattered across Syria who could regroup in future.

https://youtu.be/buR-DOXIaBM?list=WL&t=90

Your daily Ուօտ դը ֆաք news involving Hollywood action stars, presidents, Armenian businessmen, crime and drama stretching from Yerevan to Moscow to Los Angeles. Take it away...

www.civilnet.am/news/2019/03/25/Հոլիվուդյան-պրոդյուսերը-դատվում-է-Հայաստանում․-մեղադրանքը՝-49-միլիոն-դոլարի-հափշտակություն/357209

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Link to original report: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/b5f9gi/anticorruption_mar252019_lydian_mining_busted/