FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION SHOULD BE WAGED WITH RESPECT TO MAJOR CASES WHICH ARE IMMEDIATELY CLOSED, CHAIRMAN OF "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" ORGANIZATION SAYS
Noyan Tapan
Se p 25, 2008
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. On the initiative of the
RA Prosecutor General’s Office, the third cluster consultation
"The Peculiarities of Prevention, Detection and Investigation of
Corruption Crimes", this time on a republican scale, will be held in
Yerevan in October. The two previous consultations were held with the
participation of law enforcers of Armenia’s southern and northern
regions. The September 25 meeting of the Prosecutor General Aghvan
Hovsepian with representatives of NGOs was dedicated to finalizing
the cluster consultations.
The Chairman of Investigative Journalists organization Edik
Baghdasarian said that the real fight against corruption should be
waged with respect to those major cases which, in his words, are
immediately closed. For example, two months ago Armenia exported
thousands of tons of bananas to Bahama Islands. Investigative
Journalists, however, was imformed from the Bahamas that no bananas
were received there from Armenia. If such major cases are disclosed,
"something will change," S. Baghdasarian said, adding that "people
do not trust the law enforcement system".
According to the prosecutor general, "the banana case" has not
been closed, just the law enforcement bodies, unlike journalists,
have difficulty taking investigative actions in those countries,
with which Armenia has no agreements on legal help. A. Hovsepian
expressed his disagreement with the claim that investigators are
illiterate and unprofessional.
The representatives of NGOs attached importance to informing the
population about corruption, but they said that the price of social
advertising on television is equivalent to that of commercial
advertising.
The NGOs proposed that they should be given the opportunity to
make speeches on corruption problems at consultations to be held
in Yerevan. They also proposed increasing the number of NGOs that
participate in such consultations.