2018 September 20

Anti-Corruption Daily

Anti-Corruption Sep/20/2018: Hrazdan former mayor charged with embezzlement and abuse of power; gov-funded organization caught stealing agricultural products worth millions; 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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Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth, Putin, presidents of Artsakh and several other countries have congratulated Armenia with its independence. Trump welcomes the peaceful transition and is willing to help Armenia to fight the corruption and create an independent judiciary system. He thanks for Armenia’s participation in NATO-led missions. Says in the upcoming months, there will be an opportunity to do more work on the Artsakh issue https://news.am/arm/news/472144.html

ANOTHER ONE! Hrazdan’s HHK mayor Aram Danielyan resigned few months ago, after corruption and election fraud accusations. The office was just audited. It shows that he used municipality’s resources to enrich his brother’s personal business. On multiple occasions, the government signed illegal contracts with the business worth AMD 58mln. A criminal case is launched against him. https://armlur.am/840343/

More details from the car servicing companies that abused license and avoided taxes. They have paid an additional AMD 55mln. One of the companies belongs to Manvel Tushonka Grigoryan’s son, which paid 16mln in fines http://investigative.am/news/view/verakangnumner-avtotexspasarkum.html

Prosecutors launch a criminal case against the management of a government-funded agricultural organization for embezzling AMD 15.6mln and wasting AMD 66.8mln worth seeds for farmers https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947953/

Education Ministry is cracking down on propaganda in schools. Several teachers are told not to use their time to aid any political candidate. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947893/

... Minister says there are over 50 active criminal cases. The ministry receives letters from people in schools, and if a crime is suspected, it is submitted to the authorities. Says the recent audit that revealed corruption in gov-funded Theatrical University was conducted after receiving a similar letter https://news.am/arm/news/472025.html

NSS chief Vanetsyan says former Yerevan mayor Taron Margaryan has been questioned as a witness in the Yerevan Foundation corruption scandal https://news.am/arm/news/472109.html

... says he himself has been questioned by the authorities in the investigation around the audio leaks, to find out if there was an abuse of power by him https://news.am/arm/news/472111.html

The relatives of Poghos Poghosyan, the man who was murdered by Robert Kocharyan’s bodyguard after saying Privet Rob (Hello Rob) at a restaurant, want the case to be re-opened. The bodyguard had only received 2 years of conditional sentence for involuntary manslaughter. The relatives insist that the judge who gave the lenient sentence is the infamous judge that is always chosen for all political cases to do the “dirty work”. They say Poghos was tortured, had his fingers broken, chocked with a hose and beaten with a gun handle, thus the murderer deserved a first degree murder charges. They also want Kocharyan to be investigated because a bodyguard would have never left the client without an order, in other words, Kocharyan must have ordered the guard to beat him. They say there are witnesses who’ve heard Kocharyan say “go finish him” before the murder http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/144638

The European Human Rights Court has ruled in favor of Mushegh Saghatelyan in the lawsuit against the Armenian authorities. The man was locked up, tortured and had his rights denied after the March 1st events http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/144655

The General Prosecutor met the former Soviet Republic representatives and presented Armenia’s methods of fighting against corruption. Corruption busts are up 55% while the number of suspects up 105%. https://imgflip.com/i/2idf9e

——- https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947910/

STATS TIME! The economic activity up by 7.7% compared to 2017. Industry up 4.4. Construction up 8.5. Trade up 9.7. Services up 18.9. Agriculture down 1. Energy production up 1.3. Consumer price index up 2.5.

The average salary rose by 3.7%, to AMD 168,500/month (or $349). The private sector salaries up 3.7%, government salaries up 1.8%.

Foreign trade up 26.4%. Export up 16.4, import up 32. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947877/

To reduce the border traffic that damage to their tourism and the roads, Georgia had earlier prohibited large trucks from being used to transfer grain through its territory. They gave Armenia a 52% discount on railroad transfers in order to reduce the negative financial impact, since road transfers are cheaper. Now, the Georgian authorities have decided to postpone the road ban for a year and try to find more methods to reduce the negative impact. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947922/

A popular Azeri writer Akram Aylisli is still being persecuted by the authorities, says the writer. After writing a pro-Armenian Azeri friendship piece for a Russian magazine, Azeri Parliament members accused him of treason, Aliyev took away his title of a honorary writer, and he was prohibited from traveling abroad. Later, phony hooliganism charges were filed against him, similar to what happened to many other Azeri opposition figures. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947962/

Azeri government suffers a defeat in the French higher court, after attempting to sue two French investigative journalists for calling dictator Ilham Aliyev a “dictator” in a documentary showing the widespread human rights violations in the country. https://news.am/arm/news/472011.html

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The parents of the 16 year old Turkish shepherd boy, who crossed the border and was arrested by the guards, are asking Pashinyan to pardon their son. They say the boy is a good student and he has to go to college this semester, and that he is not a troublemaker. He decided to find out what was on the other side of the hill, and as it turns out, it was Armenia. He was apprehended by the Russian guards. An Armenian politician Aragats Akhoyan has met with him in the juvenile detention center and denied some Turkish media rumors that he is kept in bad conditions. Says he has spoken to the Armenian authorities about the situation. https://armenpress.am/arm/news/947925/

Armenian Greco-Roman athletes win 1 gold and 2 silver medals in youth world championship http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/144675

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/9hjag1/anticorruption_sep202018_hrazdan_former_mayor/