Friday, June 9, 2017 Procurement Fraud `Minimized' By Government . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian chairs a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 25May2017. The Armenian government has sharply cut corruption risks in the administration of state procurements criticized by anti-graft watchdogs, a senior Finance Ministry official claimed on Friday. "We have enacted the kind of legislation that would preclude or at least minimize such practices," said Sergey Shahnazarian, the head of a ministry division overseeing procurements by various government agencies. "For that purpose a new system was designed and introduced," he told a news conference. "In my view, it seriously complicates, if not prevents, the manifestations mentioned by you." Shahnazarian cited a government-drafted law that came in force in April. It is meant to make the procurement process much more transparent and prevent conflicts of interests among officials dealing with such purchases. If those officials have relatives among private supplies bidding for government contracts they must formally acknowledge that fact. "We now also publicize data on the real owners [of government contractors,]" said Shahnazarian. "The information is public. You can see who holds more than 10 percent stakes in which companies." Prime Minister Karen Karapetian publicly questioned the integrity of the process just days after taking office in September. He specifically decried "primitive theft" of budgetary funds set aside for government officials' travel expenses. Varuzhan Hoktanian, the program director at the Anti-Corruption Center (ACC), the Armenian affiliate of Transparency International, acknowledged that the new law provides for greater transparency in procurement administration. But he said that it alone will not solve the problem. "When there is no will to expedite clean processes, including in the area of procurements, primitive theft will be placed by more sophisticated theft," Hoktanian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). The ACC has repeatedly charged in recent years that various government agencies purchased many goods and services at disproportionately high prices from a handful of companies usually owned by government-linked individuals. According to it, the government awarded 70 percent of its procurement contracts without any competitive tenders in 2015. Dashnaktsutyun `Not Opposed' To Corruption Whistleblowing . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Armen Rustamian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, speaks at an election campaign rally in Yerevan, 30Mar2017. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) insisted on Friday that a parliament deputy representing the pro-government party was misunderstood by media when he objected to the introduction of a legal framework for whistleblowing in Armenia. The lawmaker, Andranik Karapetian, said Armenians must not be encouraged to report corruption among their superiors or colleagues to law-enforcement authorities during this week's parliament debates on this and other anti-corruption bills drafted by the government. "The institution of whistleblowers does not befit us, Armenians," Karapetian said. He said the practice would run counter to "Armenianness" and spread mistrust between co-workers in the country. The remarks prompted criticism and ridicule from Armenian media outlets as well as social media users. Commentators also wondered whether they reflect Dashnaktsutyun's position. Armen Rustamian, Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary leader, claimed that Karapetian merely warned against reviving the Soviet-era practice of false denunciations by citizens which was particularly widespread during Josef Stalin's long rule. "There is such concern because [whistleblowing] will be introduced for the first time," he said. "It's just that [Karapetian] used vocabulary that has been the main theme of the last two days," Rustamian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). He argued that Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary faction voted for this and other anti-corruption measures passed by the National Assembly this week. The new mechanism officially called a "system of whistleblowing" will enable citizens to report corruption cases known to them. They will be able to anonymously file such reports through a special website. Dashnaktsutyun holds 7 seats in the 105-member parliament and is represented in the government by three ministers. More Armenian Companies To Be Privatized . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - Staff at a post office in Yerevan. Armenia's parliament allowed the government on Friday to privatize the national postal service and dozens of other state-run enterprises, hospitals and recreation facilities. The National Assembly approved a list of 47 entities subject to privatization over strong objections voiced by its opposition minority. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet says that they are in need of serious capital investments which can only be raised from private sources. Previous Armenian governments had tried unsuccessfully to sell off some of these entities. "We hope that we will finally find buyers for them," Arman Sahakian, head of Armenia's Department of State Property Management, told lawmakers. Opposition deputies were particularly critical of the inclusion on the list of about a dozen medical centers, including the country's main oncology clinic and a children's hospital in Yerevan. They said private ownership would only increase the cost of medical services provided by them. The children's hospital called the Arabkir Medical Center was for many years managed by Ara Babloyan, a veteran pediatrician who was elected parliament speaker last month. Its current director is his son. Gevorg Gorgisian of the opposition Yelk alliance expressed concern that Babloyan or his family could benefit from the hospital's privatization. The speaker affiliated with the governing Republican Party of Armenia ruled out any conflicts of interest. The most important business enterprises on the privatization list are the Haypost postal service and a jewelry factory based in Yerevan.Haypost has been managed for the past decade by a company controlled by Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentinian billionaire of Armenian descent who has extensive business interests in Armenia. With some 900 offices across the country, it not only provides traditional postal services but also collects utility payments and some taxes and duties, handles wire transfers of cash and even distributes travel insurance. Most state-owned Armenian companies were privatized in the 1990s and early 2000s. The private sector now accounts for more than 80 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product. Press Review "Haykakan Zhamanak" hits out at a parliament deputy from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) who decried earlier this week the introduction of a legal "system of corruption whistleblowing" on the grounds that it contradicts Armenian traditions. "We are sure that if this newly elected parliamentarian [Andranik Markarian] had known how shocking his words will be to people he would have immediately refrained from uttering them," writes the paper. It says that the Dashnaktsutyun leadership must enlighten Karapetian on "what it means to speak from the National Assembly rostrum, who listens to such speeches and what consequences they may have." "Aravot" says that Karapetian's remarks may be condemnable but they reflect a widely held belief in Armenia. "Although in theory we, critics, disagree with Andranik, in real life we usually do what the deputy described," editorializes the paper. "Zhoghovurd" reports that the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will arrive in Yerevan on Saturday at the start of a fresh tour of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. "The Karabakh peace process has slowed down of late," writes the paper. "The last major meeting took place in April in Moscow at the level of foreign ministers. Although there was talk of a meeting of the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] presidents there are still no agreements to that effect. The reason for the slowdown is not only Azerbaijan's refusal to fulfill [confidence-building] agreements reached in Vienna and Saint Petersburg [last year.] There is also another, more important reason." It notes that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the other day that the parties continue to disagree on "small but very important details" of a settlement favored by the mediators. "One of the details applies to the [proposed] referendum on Karabakh's status: its dates and the circle of eligible participants," continues "Zhoghovurd." "Indeed, these are small but very important details." "Hraparak" claims that Gevorg Kostanian, Armenia's former prosecutor-general and current representative to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), has warned against a lawsuit filed against an Armenian civic activist by 30 school principals who were tricked into admitting that they are campaigning for the ruling HHK in recent parliamentary elections. The paper says Kostanian warned the authorities that the ECHR could eventually rule against them if the activist, Daniel Ioannisian, is fined by Armenian courts. "But the supporters of organizing a judicial show prevailed and received the supreme leadership's go-ahead," it says. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org