ANTI-CORRUPTION COUNCIL: TI HEAD SKEPTICAL OF GOVERNMENT-FORMED INITIATIVE

SOCIETY | 24.02.15 | 15:34

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern

Although an anti-corruption council is provisioned to be created in
Armenia, the head of the organization fighting against corruption in
the country is skeptical about this council being able to realize a
serious mission.

On Thursday an anti-corruption council will be created on a government
initiative and led by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. The council
include the government’s Chief of Staff, Ministers of Justice and
Finance, Attorney General, Chairman of the Ethics Committee for high
rank officials, one member from each Parliamentary opposition faction
(if they agree), Chairman of the Public Council, one representative
from each Union of Armenian Communities and two representatives of
civil society.

Reaction has been skeptical, as some observers see the makeup of the
council as something of a “fox guarding the hen house” situation.

Transparency International (TI) anti-corruption NGO Executive Director,
Varuzhan Hoktanyan spoke about the anti-corruption council and told
reporters Tuesday that there is no serious fight against corruption
in Armenia today.

“Let both the wolves be full and the sheep not suffer; that is the
attitude here. They try to take up some cosmetic measures – electronic
governance, so that there are less citizen-official relations, that
is a very mild solution of the problem, it cannot be considered a
serious solution, that is why, if there is no political will, then
I do not see a serious fight happening today,” Hoktanyan said.

According to Hoktanyan, the situation with corruption is not that
favorable and six studies done in Armenia showed that, according to
the perception, Armenia is in stagnation.

“The situation does not ameliorate, but it does not improve, either and
remains stable at a level which is typical of countries with high level
of corruption. Upon the latest data Armenia is the 36th, on a scale
from 0-100, 0 – highly corrupt and 100 – completely clear,” he said.

Compared to the corruption level of the neighboring countries,
according to Hoktanyan, Armenia stays back both from Georgia and
Turkey, but it still is in a favorable state compared to Azerbaijan
and Iran.