Armenia fails to fight corruption

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

It is no secret that corruption remains one of the main problems of Armenia and key obstacle for its development. Instead, however, the Armenian government does not seem very bothered by it.

The authorities have so far failed to find an effective way to fight the problem, but come up with unnecessary actions that only angered the society.

Most recently, the Armenian Parliament approved a bill on the establishment of the Corruption Prevention Commission. Thus, in addition to the Anti-Corruption Council, Armenia is going to create the second body, now not for fight against corruption but for its prevention. So far, the Anti-Corruption Council failed to fight the problem, which is destroying the country and its economy. Therefore, people do not expect the newly-established commission to make any major changes.

The officials also admit it. Former Armenian Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan, who is currently an MP from the Republican Party, told Armenian reporters that no drastic changes should be expected from the Commission.

He noted that this commission will not be able to do anything significant: “The only thing it may succeed in is showing that something is wrong.”

Today everyone in Armenia is aware that ‘something is wrong’, and there is no need to spend money and form a special body for that. Thus, the clarification by Tovmasian caused despair among Armenian population.

Moreover, the MP excluded that the corrupt high-ranking officials would end up in prison as a result of the Commission’s work. “Not at all, this Commission and the law are not about it. It does not mean that these people should be imprisoned due to this law,” Tovmasyan said.

That is, if Armenian officials get caught on a bribe, it does not mean that they should be punished – it just means that ‘something is wrong’ in the system.

The fact of destructive corruption in Armenia was repeatedly pointed out by many foreign representatives in the country. U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills has repeatedly demanded from the Armenian authorities to stop this outrage. The diplomat noted that if Armenia does not manage to solve the problem of corruption, it will affect the relations between the two countries in specific areas – for example, in investments.

The 2015 report of the Transparency International Anti-corruption Center showed that Armenia is one of the most corrupt countries of the world.