Wednesday, Pension Reform Bill Approved By Parliament • Nane Sahakian Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 8 February 2018. The National Assembly approved on Wednesday the new Armenian government’s decision to complete an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system which was launched four years ago. The new Western-backed system is to cover 280,000 or so Armenian workers born after 1973. It requires them to earn most of their future pensions with monthly financial contributions to one of two private pension funds operating in Armenia. Both funds are owned by European companies. The former government, which embarked on the pension reform in January 2014, said that the existing mechanism for retirement benefits is not sustainable because of Armenia’s aging and shrinking population. But it decided to make the new system optional for private sector employees until July 2018 in response to angry street protests. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the reform when he presented his newly formed cabinet’s policy program to the parliament earlier this month. But in a major concession to Armenians affected by it, the cabinet approved on June 11 a bill that would temporarily cut their pension tax rate from 5 percent to 2.5 percent. The move prompted Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilian, who was one of the organizers of the 2014 protests, to step down. Her resignation has still not been formally accepted by Pashinian. Armenia - Workers demonstrate against a controversial pension reform, Yerevan, 8May2014. Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian presented the bill to the National Assembly on Tuesday. He insisted that the effective privatization of the pension system is “the only way to ensure that people get pensions worthy of their work after retirement.” The parliament passed the bill in the first reading by 78 votes to 2. Seven other deputies abstained. All of them represent the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Pashinian’s coalition partner which has opposed the reform. The Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated Minister for Economic Artsvik Minasian openly objected to the bill on June 11. His objections clearly irritated Pashinian, who said that all ministers must share “collective responsibility” for government policies. Businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s bloc, which is also part of the ruling coalition, has also criticized the reform in the past. Still, most of its deputies voted for making the new system mandatory for all Armenians aged 44 and younger. One of them, Mikael Melkumian, said Janjughazian’s remarks on the parliament floor largely dispelled their misgivings for the time being. Deputies from the Yelk alliance, of which Pashinian is a leader, likewise voiced conditional support for the bill. Edmon Marukian, another Yelk leader, said he expects the new government to consider modifying the new system later on. Pashinian made clear later on Tuesday that he is open to such discussions. According to government officials, over 200,000 people are already covered by the new pension plan. Former Authorities ‘Knew About Ex-General’s Corruption’ • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Parliament deputy Artur Gevorgian speaks to journalists in Yerevan, . Armenia’s previous governments were aware of retired General Manvel Grigorian’s corrupt activities but did not allow law-enforcement bodies to prosecute him, a lawmaker until recently affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party (HHK) claimed on Wednesday. Artur Gevorgian also said that many other individuals in the country are even more corrupt that Grigorian, who was arrested on Saturday on charges of illegal arms possession and embezzlement. “In terms of corrupt practices, Manvel Grigorian is probably not on the top 100 list [of corrupt persons] of this country,” he told reporters. “They [law-enforcement bodies] now got a permission to catch him and they caught him,” he said. “They didn’t have permission before and so they didn’t catch him.” Gevorgian is one of several parliamentarians who have defected from the HHK since the former ruling party’s leader, Serzh Sarkisian, resigned as Armenia’s prime minister on April 23 amid massive protests against his continued rule. Significantly, the 43-year-old former boxer is the son-in-law of Vladimir Gasparian, the former chief of the Armenian police. Gasparian was fired two days after the Armenian parliament elected Nikol Pashinian as prime minister on May 8. He ran the national police service for seven years. Independent and opposition-linked media outlets have long accused General Grigorian, who served as deputy defense minister from 2000-2008, of corruption, violent conduct and other abuses. Grigorian strongly supported Sarkisian throughout the latter’s decade-long rule and was twice elected to the parliament on the HHK ticket. He has headed the Yerkrapah Union, an influential organization uniting thousands of veterans of the Karabakh war, for almost two decades. The ex-general was arrested immediately after officers of the National Security Service (NSS) raided his expensive properties in and around Echmiadzin, a historic town about 20 kilometers west of Yerevan. They found there large quantities of not only weapons but also food and other supplies meant for Armenian army soldiers. An NSS video of the search caused widespread shock and indignation in the country. The parliament swiftly agreed on Tuesday to lift Grigorian’s immunity from prosecution. Investigators claimed on Wednesday to have confiscated more canned food which they believe was embezzled by Grigorian and hoarded in at least two other locations, including a house in Karabakh owned by him. Press Review “Zhamanak” wonders if the new Armenian government’s anti-corruption drive will target “the former number one figures” of the state. The paper suggests in this regard that the arrested General Manvel Grigorian could have hardly embezzled supplies to the armed forces without Serzh Sarkisian’s knowledge. “Hraparak” also says that Grigorian’s arrest and embarrassing revelations made by the National Security Service (NSS) raise many questions about the scale of corruption in the country and the armed forces in particular. The paper says law-enforcement authorities must look into the possible involvement of other senior military officials in such illegal activities. “Zhoghovurd” likewise tries to understand “how all this happened” and who Manvel Grigorian’s “accomplices” are. “It is evident that Grigorian did not act alone,” writes the paper. “And as the head of the National Security Service, Artur Vanetsian, said the other day, further sensational revelations await us. We are talking not just about members of the Yerkrapah Union and the general’s friends but also members of his family. In this sense exposures have already begun and it is Manvel Grigorian’s wife, Colonel Nazik Amirian, who has primarily found herself at the center of law-enforcers’ attention.” “Aravot” reports that the Armenian police “disarmed” on Tuesday Hovannes Hovsepian, the former head of the State Revenue Committee and Serzh Sarkisian’s Oversight Service, and his bodyguards. “Police officers stopped his motorcade and found a whole arsenal in their cars,” says the paper. “The current and former officials and oligarchs have such a habit of moving around the city in a motorcade of several cars. This is their preferred method of asserting themselves.” It hopes to see similar operations against dozens of other notorious individuals “so that they realize that their time is gone and that they are not feudal authorities anymore.” (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org