In order to summarize the one-year work done in the direction of the creation and formation of the new law enforcement body of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia, an event dedicated to the Day of the Anti-Corruption Committee worker and the first anniversary of the establishment of the Committee has been organized today, which was attended by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, RA Supreme Judicial Council Chairman Karen Andreasyan, RA Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan, RA Investigation Committee Chairman Argishti Kyaramyan, RA National Security Service Director Armen Abazyan, RA Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan, RA State Revenue Committee Chairman Rustam Badasyan and Head of the RA State Control Service Romanos Petrosyan.
RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, congratulating the employees of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee on the occasion of the first anniversary of the formation of the structure and the Day of the Committee's employee, noted that the formation of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee is a very important institutional reform that requires political will. "Because, first of all, we formed an Anti-Corruption Committee, the process of its formation is different from our ideas and, in general, the field of activity is very concrete. deals with anti-corruption cases in particular, and is our first investigative body, which, in addition to investigative activities, also has the opportunity to carry out operative-intelligence activities. This is very important in terms of fighting against corruption, because, in fact, the Anti-Corruption Committee, in the process of its institutional formation, has a full opportunity to wage a real and not titular fight against corruption", said the RA Prime Minister, emphasizing at the same time. "Our will to fight against corruption was so strong that even in the very difficult post-war period, even in the pre-election period, in the post-election period, in the period of some political escalation, we did not stop this reform process for a single minute. Just for this, to have an occasion, and of course, the occasion was created on the occasion of the Anti-Corruption Committee Day, to record that all the institutional prerequisites are created so that the public gets answers, we all get answers, and we all see results".
The RA Prime Minister noted that every year it is necessary to show the public how much money was returned to the state budget as a result of the anti-corruption policy and how many people were brought to justice. "I have seen and felt that there are specific state circles, including the law enforcement system, where there are certain phenomena and manifestations of invisible, unprovable resistance. But there were also objective reasons that there was a problem with the limited toolkit. Today, we've overcome that problem, and now it's time to fundamentally change our conversation, style, results, and visibility.
I would also like to say that what I am talking about is not a matter of political expediency or taste, but corruption is a phenomenon the damage of which to the country's past and future has a very specific content. That content is mainly clarified, but also has very specific arithmetic. That arithmetic should be clarified, that is, we should have that number concretely, have it every year and also have it in total, and that number should appear in the revenues of the RA state budget".
Chairman of the Anti-corruption Committee, State Counselor of the Third Class of Justice, Sasun Khachatryan, referring to the works carried out in the direction of the formation and establishment of the structure and the recorded achievements, emphasized that the fact of being the only investigative body carrying out operative-intelligence activities in RA, really provides a new opportunity for effective investigation, but at the same time raises high expectations from the activities of the Anti-Corruption Committee. This, in turn, is a great responsibility to form a structure equipped with well-behaved and knowledgeable employees, equipped with technical means in line with modern challenges, joint and complementary activities of both investigative and operative-intelligence units will record tangible results in the fight against corruption.
The chairman of the Committee presented the statistical indicators of the examined criminal proceedings, stating that the number of cases in the proceedings of the investigators has more than tripled in one year. "From October 23, 2021 up to the present, 1042 criminal proceedings were examined in the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, while 565 criminal cases were examined in the Special Investigation Service of the RA during the previous year. In other words, if we compare these indicators, during the first year of its activity, the Committee examined 477 more criminal proceedings with fewer investigators (84.4%). Currently, 366 criminal proceedings are being investigated, while in the Anti-Corruption Committee when starting its activities on October 23, 2021, only 114 criminal cases were examined.
As for the criminal proceedings sent to the court, they were mostly complex and multi-episode corruption cases. "Currently, in the proceedings of the Committee's investigators, a preliminary investigation is also being conducted on a number of other complex and multi-episode cases, among which I would like to single out the criminal proceedings regarding the theft of state and community- owned plots of land by fraud organized by former and current officials of the RA Cadastre Committee and their close associates. At the current stage of the preliminary investigation, 12 episodes have been revealed, in which state and community-owned land with a total surface area of 12 hectares, located in Nork-Marash, Ajapniak and Kentron administrative districts of Yerevan city, were misappropriated, the market value of which is more than 7.8 billion AMD. that is, about 19 million US dollars".
According to Sasun Khachatryan, in the reporting year, about 663 million drams of damage caused to the state was recovered by the criminal proceedings examined in the Committee, including the completed cash. Besides, as a real means of ensuring damage recovery, an injunction was placed on property worth about 9 billion 535 million AMD. By the way, the case of causing damage to the state of 39.9 billion drams has already been substantiated in only two criminal cases. "Without noting the specific criminal cases, I would like to make it clear that an injunction has been placed on the property of the accused in the amount of the entire amount of damage, that is, there is a real guarantee that the damage will be recovered under the conditions of the guilty verdict. The accused in both cases are in search, so we are currently waiting for the position of the court of cassation regarding the applicability of the criminal procedural norms regulating remote proceedings in the absence of the accused, in order to send the said cases to the prosecutor with an indictment. In general, about 66 billion 789 million drams worth of property and funds are under injunction due to the criminal proceedings being investigated in the committee", the Chairman of the Committee said.
According to Sasun Khachatryan, in order to inculcate awareness of the inevitability of responsibility and punishment among the public, it is necessary to have good legislation, competent and honest specialists at all stages of criminal proceedings, in the entire law enforcement system. "If any of these principles are violated in any of these links, then the algorithm fails, the problem is not solved," the Chairman of the Committee noted in his speech, continuing that today, even if cautiously, it can be noted that the consistent fight against corruption in society to some extent has strengthened the belief in the inevitability of responsibility for corruption crimes and confidence in the law enforcement system. One of the manifestations of this is the numerous applications of citizens, in which they inform about the apparent abuses of various persons in public service. It is noteworthy that the employees of the state bodies themselves have started to speak out about the manifestations of corruption in their structures, which undoubtedly contributes to the provision of an impartial service free from corruption risks in the specific body.
According to Sasun Khachatryan, the positive index recorded by our country in the field of fighting corruption is already confirmed by the Eastern Partnership Index 2020-2021 report published with the support of the European Union, which recorded Armenia's significant progress in the fight against corruption. According to the above-mentioned index, Armenia ranked 1st in 5 areas, and the first of them is the area of fighting corruption.
The Committee Chairman also emphasized the role and importance of cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies in improving the professional training of officials and ensuring the efficiency of the investigation, both in terms of borrowing best practices and mutual legal assistance during the pre-trial proceedings, especially considering that a number of corruption crimes, such as money laundering, illegal enrichment, often have a transnational character, and without the support of our partners from other countries, proper investigation is impossible in some cases.
Thanking the RA Prime Minister and the RA Government for the efforts and compassionate attitude invested in the creation and establishment of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Sasun Khachatryan assured that the Committee stands resolutely in the position of consistent fight against corruption and will continuously take measures to make the fight against corruption more effective and visible to justify the trust and expectations of the public in this regard.
Davit Kostandyan, Deputy Head of the Second Investigation Department of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, Artur Sargsyan, Deputy Head of the Third Investigation Department, and Sergey Arakelyan, Senior Investigator of PIC of the Internal Security Department, were awarded with the RA Prime Minister's Commemorative Medal by the RA Prime Minister for their contribution to the strengthening of legal order and legality. On the occasion of conscientious and efficient work, as well as the Day of the Anti-Corruption Committee worker and the first anniversary of the establishment of the Committee, committee employees were awarded with medals, souvenirs and certificates of honor.
