WHO LEGALIZES CORRUPTION

Lragir.am
14 April 06

During the past four-day meeting the parliament finally killed the
struggle against corruption, for the strategy of which the World Bank
allocated 300 thousand dollars to Armenia five years ago. How could
the World Bank know that in five years the National Assembly would
adopt a report on a program of privatization, confirming the donation
of state property that the government made to separate sons of the
nation. However, it is possible to understand the political forces,
which voted for the program of privatization. After all, the problem
was the struggle of two ideas: save the struggle against corruption
from formalities or save the national tradition of offering presents
from the wind of time. And it is difficult to accuse, for instance,
the Republican Party, which chose preservation of `national
traditions’ and proved by vote that the prospect of existence of the
Armenian people is preservation of national traditions, sometimes
shutting eyes to corruption.

The case of Dashnaktsutiun (the Armenian Revolutionary Federation) is
different, since one of its leaders Vahan Harutiunyan, on the day of
the massacres in Sumgait, announced in front of the house of
government that our foe is not Turks or Azerbaijanis but corruption. I
believe that who did not see the outcome of vote of Dashnaktsutiun to
the report on privatization is still excited about the bravery of
Vahan Hovanisyan when he revealed the new foe of the nation. Vahan
Hovanisyan and his fellow party members vote for a report on a program
of privatization, including companies which were sold several times
cheaper than these had been assessed. They should have phoned the
house of the president and consulted Bagrat Yesayan, the adviser to
president on anti-corruption affairs. He would honestly explain what
corruption is to his fellow party members.

HAKOB BADALYAN