Honorable Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia,
Dear guests,
Dear officers of the Anti-Corruption Committee,
This event, dedicated to the worker’s day of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Republic of Armenia and the first anniversary of the establishment of the Committee, is a good opportunity to summarize the work done in the direction of the creation and establishment of the Anti-Corruption Committee as a new law enforcement authority, to evaluate the achievements of the structure, as well as to reaffirm the directions of our mission, goals and existing problems, ways to meet challenges.
The Anti-Corruption Committee has been operating in the Republic of Armenia since October 23, 2021 on the basis of the “Anti-Corruption Committee” law adopted on March 24, 2021 by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, which, as an investigative body, organizes and carries out the pre-trial criminal proceedings for alleged corruption crimes assigned to it under the RA Criminal Procedure Code, and within the framework of its powers, carries out operative-investigative activity prescribed by the law “On Operative-Investigative Activities”.
In the terms of functionality and organizationality, the Anti-Corruption Committee, which is new and different from other law enforcement agencies, is essentially the only investigative body in the Republic of Armenia, which, in addition to preliminary investigations, also carries out operative-investigative activities. On the one hand, it provides new opportunities for effective investigation, but at the same time, it brings great expectations from the structure’s activity, which is also a great responsibility to form a structure equipped with well-mannered and aware officers, equipped with technical means in line with modern challenges, whose both investigative and the joint, complementary activities of operative-investigative units will record tangible results in the fight against corruption.
Essentially, if we conditionally group the main directions of the Committee’s activity during this one year, then the performed works can be divided into two parts. In parallel, large-scale works aimed at the formation of the Committee, recruitment of personnel, formation of the appropriate legal framework, technical equipment and partnership relations with domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies, as well as preliminary investigation and operative-investigative activities in cases (proceedings) regarding corruption crimes were carried out.
Thus,
Starting October 23, 2021, the preliminary investigation of alleged corruption crimes in the Republic of Armenia is carried out by the anti-corruption committee, with some exceptions.
The Committee has 170 positions for the implementation of the powers conferred by the law, of which 40 are autonomous, 60 are operational-investigative positions, 38 are civil servants, 8 are discretionary positions, and 24 are for technical and civil work positions.
Although the positions are not fully filled until now, due to the complicated procedures for selecting and appointing personnel, the committee has done significant work within the scope of the powers assigned to it, in order to carry out an effective preliminary investigation in cases related to corruption crimes, and to strengthen the rule of law and legality.
1042 criminal proceedings (criminal cases) were examined in the proceedings of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee from October 23, 2021 to date. It should be noted that 565 criminal cases were examined in the special investigative service of the RA during the preceding year. In other words, if we compare these indicators, during the first year of its activity, the Committee examined by more 477criminal cases (criminal proceedings) (84.4%) in proceedings with fewer investigators (the investigators of the Special Investigation Service were more by 8).
656 criminal proceedings out of the 1,042 examined in the proceedings, were initiated by the Committee’s investigators, and the rest were received from other bodies or reopened.
Due to the unprecedented increase in the number of cases, as well as in order to reduce the workload, the deputy heads of the three departments of the Committee also carry out investigations, but even under these conditions, the average workload does not decrease and it amounted to an average of 43 proceedings per year according to the calculation of one investigator. At present, 366 criminal cases (proceedings) are pending. It should be noted that on October 23, 2021 when the Committee started its activities, only 114 criminal cases were examined, that is, the number of cases (proceedings) in the proceedings of the investigators has more than tripled within a year.
79 of the examined criminal cases regarding 179 persons were sent to the court with indictments. There were no acquittals in the proceedings sent to court.
58 officials who performed public service in various fields were brought to trial in the criminal proceedings sent to the court with the indictment. Among the accused persons brought to trial were many former and current high-ranking officials.
60 persons were not prosecuted on non-rehabilitative grounds, including active remorse, statute of limitations, and death.
The cases sent to the court were mostly complex and multi-issue corruption cases, during the examination of which many urgent administrative and judicial actions were carried out. Among them, the most notable and high-profile cases are the criminal case initiated with regard to giving, receiving, assisting in receiving bribes, receiving and giving illegal remuneration, large-scale embezzlement, anti-competitive activities and illegal enrichment by the official of the RA Ministry of Emergency and other persons during the years 2021-2022.
In the mentioned criminal case, 13 officials and other persons were charged with various corruption articles of the RA Criminal Code. Some of the accused were taken into custody. The case was sent to the court with an indictment.
Currently, in the proceedings of the Committee’s investigators, a preliminary investigation is also being conducted in a number of other complex cases, among which I would like to single out the criminal proceedings regarding the theft of state and community-owned plots of land with a criminal scheme organized by former and current officials of the RA Cadastre Committee and their close associates.
Thus,
Creating false foundations, including false decisions of the mayor of Yerevan city, false documents testifying to the holding of an auction, false contracts for the sale of plots of land, false payment receipts, during the years 2017-2021, the members of the criminal group entered them in journals and electronic databases through the relevant persons holding positions in the Cadastre Committee and Yerevan Municipality. As a result of criminal actions, fake cadastral files were prepared in the cadastral committee in the name of their acquaintances and relatives, fake certificates of ownership were issued and these properties were recorded in the names of the mentioned persons.
At the current stage of the preliminary investigation, 12 such episodes were revealed, in which state and community-owned land with a total surface area of about 12 hectares, located in Nork-Marash, Ajapniak and Kentron administrative districts of Yerevan city, were stolen, the market value of which is more than 7.8 billion AMD, that is, about 19 million US dollars. All the plots of land subject to the crime have been recognized as material evidence and measures are being taken to return them to the balance sheet of the state or community.
11 persons involved in criminal activities, including current and former officials, have already been identified, they have been charged with accepting bribes, abusing official position and committing fraud under the relevant articles of the RA Criminal Code. 2 of the accused are taken into custody. The investigation in this case is at an active stage and I am sure that the findings will not end there.
As an important indicator of the effectiveness of the investigation, great attention was paid to the work of restoring damage caused by the crime.
During the reporting year, about 663 million drams of damage caused to the state was recovered in cash through the criminal proceedings examined by the committee, including those that were completed.
In addition, arrest has been imposed on property of around 9 billion 535 million AMD as a real means of securing damages.
A number of criminal cases transferred from the Special Investigation Service are also in the proceedings of the committee, with which the cases of causing damage to the state with corruption crimes were also substantiated.
Thus, the case of causing damage to the state of 39.9 billion drams was substantiated with two criminal cases only. I would like to clarify without specifying the specific criminal cases, that a ban 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. In both cases the accused persons are under investigation, 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, property and funds of about66 billion 789 million drams are under seizure due to the criminal proceedings investigated by the committee.
Along with carrying out preliminary investigation in criminal cases (proceedings), the investigators of the Anti-Corruption Committee prepared a large number of materials, discussed and resolved an unprecedented volume of applications and reports. Thus, during the reporting period, 706 materials were prepared, 2491 applications/reports were discussed.
For sure, the statistics on compensation for the damage caused by the crime, on the persons sued, and similar statistics are important and can be seen as a standard for evaluating the effectiveness of the work of this or that law enforcement body, because in the end, social justice is also restored as a result of it, which is one of the main goals of punishment, but in my deep conviction, the other purpose of punishment, the prevention of crimes, is more important in building a legal state. It is well-known that in the prevention of offenses, not so much the severity of the expected punishment plays a deterrent role as the awareness of responsibility and the inevitability of punishment. Probably all of the lawyers here present will remember the example when in the Middle Ages, during the hanging of a person sentenced to death for theft, pickpockets continued their work among the people gathered in the square. So what is needed to inculcate the awareness of the inevitability of responsibility and punishment among the public? In my opinion, to have good legislation, competent and honest specialists at all stages of the implementation of criminal proceedings, in the entire law enforcement system. If any of these principles are violated in any of these loops, the algorithm fails, the problem is not solved.
Today, even if cautiously, it can be noted that the consistent fight against corruption in the society has to some extent strengthened the conviction of the inevitability of responsibility for corruption crimes and the trust in the law enforcement system. One of its manifestations are the many applications/reports of citizens in which they inform about the apparent abuses of various persons in public service.
It is worth mentioning that the employees of the state bodies themselves have started to speak out about the manifestations of corruption in their structures, which for sure contributes to the provision of an impartial service free from corruption risks in the specific body. Bright examples of this are the criminal cases examined by the Committee, in which initial information about corruption crimes and the public servants involved in them was obtained from the heads of those servants. As an example, I can cite the above-mentioned criminal proceedings regarding the theft of land, official forgeries and bribery by the officials of the RA Cadastre Committee, as well as the recent bribery of about 47,000 USD by the PIC investigator of the Central Apparatus of the RA Investigative Committee with Special Assignments. In another criminal proceeding regarding bribery by SRC officials, preliminary information was also provided by the relevant department of SRC. We have also received many reports from the internal security department of the police regarding the manifestations of corruption.
In this context, the report of the chairman of the Water Committee of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure regarding the offer of a bribe by a citizen is also noteworthy. The initiated criminal case was also sent to the court with an indictment. The citizen who paid the bribe was taken into custody.
In this regard, I would like to mention one positive statistic. During this one year of activity of the anti-corruption committee, 24 criminal cases regarding the fact of offering bribes to police patrols were investigated. Those are the cases when the patrols detained the people who offered them a bribe and presented them to the law enforcement agency. 12 of those cases on 12 persons have already been sent to the court with an indictment.
I am far from thinking that this number expresses the real situation, but if we take into account that before the establishment of the patrol service, similar cases either did not exist or were unique, ao what we recorded is a serious achievement. The cases mentioned above are widely covered by us, which certainly has a positive effect on preventing similar cases in the future, instilling the awareness of the inevitability of responsibility among the public.
The fact that the bodies of the state administration system have mostly abandoned the vicious practice of “not taking the garbage out of the house” is already a proof of the effectiveness of the steps taken in the direction of overcoming corruption.
The 2020-2021 report of the Eastern Partnership Index published with the support of the European Union, which recorded Armenia’s significant progress in the fight against corruption, is the proof of what I mentioned. According to the above-mentioned index, Armenia ranked 1st in 5 areas, and the first of them is the area of fighting corruption.
Emphasizing the prevention of corruption crimes, the investigators of the anti-corruption committee submitted more than 50 petitions in criminal proceedings to relevant officials to take measures to eliminate the circumstances contributing to the commission of the crime.
The main guarantee for the establishment of the anti-corruption committee and the increase in the effectiveness of its activities is, of course, the professional staff and the continuous improvement of their professional training.
In order to fill the positions of the Committee’s investigative and operative-investigative functions, 5 tenders were organized and held, during which 186 candidates were studied and checked at the appropriate stages of the tender. Representatives of civil society, as well as various observers and international experts took part in the holding of the competitions.
According to the results of those competitions, only 74 participants were recognized as winners and appointed to the respective positions.
It’s no secret that people involved in corruption and economic crimes constantly improve their skills, actively use the possibilities of modern digital technologies, from forging documents with high-quality equipment, to using various messengers that provide guarantees of privacy for communication. Money and property that are the object of crime or the result of criminal activity are often kept or transferred through complex schemes and it will become more and more difficult to ensure an effective investigation with conventional investigative actions and operational measures. The only way to adequately counteract all this is to increase the qualification of the staff, to master new methods of operational work and examination.
The role and importance of cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies in improving the professional training of the Committee’s officers and ensuring the efficiency of the investigation is great, 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, in some cases proper investigation is impossible.
Since its establishment, the RA Anti-Corruption Committee has been in constant contact with international partners for the purpose of studying the successful experience of the latter in the field of fighting corruption and adopting the best elements of the latter. The Committee effectively cooperates with the Office of Drug Control and Law Enforcement Cooperation of the US Embassy, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations Development Program, the Council of Europe, the European Union, accredited diplomatic missions in the Republic of Armenia, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Italian Financial Guard, and other international partners.
Committee representatives participated in a total of 56 workshops, consultations, discussions and seminars, had 39 meetings with heads of diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Armenia, foreign organizations, bodies performing similar functions, as well as representatives of other international structures.
In the context of the above, within the framework of the OSCE program for the implementation of anti-corruption reforms in Armenia, in March-April 2022, the RA Academy of Justice organized a practical course aimed at developing the professional abilities of acting investigators of the Committee, and in August, 2022 the practical courses aimed at developing the professional abilities of operative-intelligence unit officers.
During the specified period, 7 officers of the Anti-Corruption Committee participated in the courses organized in the USA, Czech Republic, Croatia and Hungary, which related to the investigation of corruption crimes, criminal prosecution and the study of the experience of anti-corruption reforms.
In January 2022, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the RA Anti-Corruption Committee and the Basel Institute of Management, which is the International Center for Asset Recovery, to assist in the identification and return of assets acquired through corruption, crimes against the economy or other types of criminal activity, as well as also in order to contribute to the development of programs and strategies aimed at the effective investigation of the said crimes.
In June 2022, meetings were held in the United States of America with the leadership of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US State Department’s Bureau of Drug Enforcement and Law Enforcement Cooperation, the Global Anti-Corruption Coordination Office, and the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. As a result, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the RA Anti-Corruption Committee and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Preparations are now underway to sign a memorandum of understanding between the RA Anti-Corruption Committee and the Italian Financial Guard.
During the reporting period, 42 requests for mutual legal assistance were sent to foreign countries in 20 criminal proceedings investigated by the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, 15 of which received a response. The RA Anti-Corruption Committee received 14 requests for mutual legal assistance from foreign countries, 13 of which were fulfilled and sent to the initiator.
Considerable work has also been done in the direction of drafting various legal acts necessary for the effective functioning of the Committee, making changes and additions to them. 29 draft normative legal acts, 107 internal legal acts were developed. 133 drafts of legal acts initiated by other bodies were studied, recommendations and opinions were presented.
Emphasizing the transparent working style and accountability of the Anti-Corruption Committee in terms of strengthening the public’s trust in the activities of the Committee and thereby increasing the efficiency of prevention and detection of corruption crimes, since the start of the activities of the Committee, large-scale coverage has been carried out regarding the current activities of the structure and awareness of the main functions reserved by law. The course of criminal cases and the legal acts developed by the Committee were widely covered through various means of mass media, including the interviews given by representatives of the Anti-Corruption Committee to the news releases of TV stations and legal programs.
The trilingual (Armenian, Russian, English) official website of the Committee www.anticorruption.am, which includes both the updated news feed of the published messages on the progress of criminal proceedings, as well as information on the organization’s activities, legislation, international cooperation, personnel and the procedure for holding tenders.
Summarizing my speech, I would like to assure that the Anti-Corruption Committee is firmly in the positions of a consistent fight against corruption and will continuously take measures to make the fight against corruption more effective and visible, in order to justify the trust and expectations of the public.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Armenia and you personally, Mr. Prime Minister, for the efforts invested in the creation and establishment of the Committee, and for your kind attitude.
I thank our partners of law enforcement and other state agencies for their support to the committee during joint work.
I am also grateful to the officers and staff of the anti-corruption committee for their devoted and tireless work during this period.
I congratulate everyone on the occasion of the first anniversary of the establishment of the Committee and the Day of the Worker of the Anti-Corruption Committee.
