Friday, Corruption Charges Against Senior Armenian Official ‘Well-Founded’ Armenia - Davit Sanasarian (L), head of the State Oversight Service, and Artur Vanetsian (R), director of the Natonal Security Service, at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, February 21, 2019. Corruption charges brought against a senior government official who actively participated in last year’s “velvet revolution” are “completely substantiated,” the head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian, insisted on Friday. The NSS indicted Davit Sanasarian, the head of the State Oversight Service (SOS), last week as part of a criminal investigation into alleged corruption practices within the anti-corruption government agency. It arrested two other senior SOS officials in late February, saying that they attempted to cash in on government-funded supplies of medical equipment to three hospitals. Sanasarian is accused of helping them enrich themselves and a private company linked to them. He has rejected the accusations as “fabricated.” “There have been no fabricated [criminal] cases since the well-known events of April 2018,” countered Vanetsian. “We all are building a rule-of-law state and the National Security Service is playing a key role in that effort.” “The accusation brought against Davit Sanasarian has been completely substantiated by testimony given by various persons and face-to-face interrogations,” he told reporters. “But not wanting to breach the presumption of Mr. Sanasarian’s innocence, I am calling on everyone to wait a little, until the case is sent to court.” Earlier this week, Petrosian’s lawyer asked Armenian prosecutors to order another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative Service (SIS), to take over the high-profile probe. Vanetsian said that he has “no problem with such a transfer.” “I have no doubts whatsoever that our investigators [from the NSS] are working within the bounds of the law,” he explained. Sanasarian’s supporters, among them leaders of some Western-funded non-governmental organizations, have strongly defended him, denouncing the NSS and Vanetsian in particular. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hit back at the critics last week. He said that they place their personal relationships with Sanasarian above the rule of law. Armenian Police Chief’s Nephew Charged With Assault • Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - The chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian, speaks to journalists in Yerevan, December 20, 2018. A nephew of Valeri Osipian, the chief of the Armenian police, has been indicted in a renewed criminal investigation into a stabbing incident that occurred in Yerevan five years ago. Osipian insisted on Friday that the 27-year-old Sedrak Osipian did not stab and seriously wound another young man during the June 2014 dispute in the city’s southern Nubarashen suburb. A local resident, Smbul Hovannisian, said shortly after the incident that Valeri Osipian, who was then a deputy chief of Yerevan’s police department, asked her to have her son Sargis confess to the crime and thus save Sedrak from imprisonment. Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) investigated the allegation which was strongly denied by Osipian. It cleared the latter of any wrongdoing later in 2014. Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee announced this week that it has reopened the inquiry into the stabbing and charged Sedrak, Smbul Hovannisian’s son Sargis and two other men in connection with it. Sargis’s elder brother, Samvel Hovannisian, told RFE/RL Armenian service on Thursday that he has been arrested in Russia. He said he fears that Sargis will be unfairly blamed for the violent attack. He also claimed that Osipian meddled in the investigation in 2014. Osipian flatly denied any influence on the probe. “If I did have such influence, I would have made sure that the case is not reopened in the first place,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Please stop linking me with that case,” he said. “I have nothing to do with it. I’m busy doing my job.” The police chief also insisted on his nephew’s innocence. “I’m sure that it wasn’t my brother’s son [who stabbed the Nubarashen resident.] I’m sure that the investigators will prove that.” Osipian used to be in charge of police units dealing with rallies and other public gatherings held in Yerevan. He was a fixture at virtually all major street protests staged against Armenia’s former government. Those included last spring’s mass protests led by Nikol Pashinian. Pashinian unexpectedly appointed Osipian as chief of the national police service immediately after becoming prime minister in May 2018. Pashinian Again Touts New Jobs Numbers • Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (second from left) visits a new cheese factory opened by the Spayka company in Yerevan, March 26, 2019. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reiterated on Friday that the number of officially employed people in Armenia has increased by more than 50,000 since last spring’s “velvet revolution” that brought him to power. In a recent speech delivered at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Pashinian spoke of 51,000 new jobs created in the country after the dramatic regime change. Critics accused him of misdealing the domestic public and the international community. They said that some Armenian companies have simply stopped underreporting the number of their employees for tax evasion purposes, rather than hired new workers. Pashinian did not deny this when he insisted on the credibility of the jobs numbers in a live Facebook broadcast. “Yes, the first theory is that these jobs were in the shadow economy and were simply brought out of the shadow after the revolution,” he said. “But of course this figure also includes newly created jobs. We need a more in-depth analysis to differentiate between these numbers.” “These nuances are not important at this point,” he went on. “What matters is that the number of jobs registered in Armenia in January 2019 was up by 50,141 from January 2018.” Pashinian vowed a tough crack down on widespread tax evasion when he was elected prime minister in May last year. The Armenian government’s tax revenues rose by over 14 percent in 2018. Armenia - Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilian speaks at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 21 June 2018. Mane Tandilian, a senior lawmaker representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK), welcomed the major rise in the number of registered workers but downplayed its impact on economic growth or even the government’s overall tax revenues. Tandilian, who served as labor minister in Pashinian’s cabinet from May through November, argued that greater proceeds from employee income tax collected by the government will be offset by less profit tax paid by private firms. “In essence, they cannot be considered new jobs,” she said, commenting on the employment data touted by Pashinian. “They are having no impact on economic activity because [workers newly registered with tax authorities] receive their wages and spend them in the country like they did before.” Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Tandilian also claimed that despite its anti-corruption efforts the government has yet to create a more favorable investment climate in Armenia. In particular, she pointed to repeated delays in the introduction of major tax cuts promised by Pashinian. The Armenian economy grew by 5.2 percent last year, down from 7.5 percent reported by the country’s Statistical Committee in 2017. The government has forecast a similar growth rate for 2019. Dashnaktsutyun Leaders Meet Russian Envoy Armenia - Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin at a news conference in Yerevan, December 18, 2018. Two leaders of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) met with Russia’s ambassador in Yerevan on Thursday to discuss Russian-Armenian relations and regional security. In a statement released on Friday, Dashnaktsutyun said Hagop Der Khatchadurian and Armen Rustamian also discussed with Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin “other issues of mutual interest.” It did not give any details. Dashnaktsutyun has traditionally supported Armenia’s close ties with Russia. The pan-Armenian party reaffirmed its foreign policy orientation at a January congress in Nagorno-Karabakh which elected the new head and members of its decision-making Bureau. The Bureau is headed by Der Khatchadurian, a Canadian Armenian, and also comprises 12 other members, including Rustamian. The latter has long been one of the party’s top figures in Armenia. Dashnaktsutyun was part of Armenia’s former government ousted during last spring’s “velvet revolution.” It received two ministerial posts in a new government formed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in May. Pashinian sacked his Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated ministers in October, accusing their party of secretly collaborating with former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party. Dashnaktsutyun has since been increasingly critical of Pashinian’s government. It failed to win any seats in the Armenian parliament in snap general elections held in December. Press Review For “Aravot,” it is obvious that Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian’s political activities are based on his business interests. “This would be a totally normal approach if he was not a National Assembly member and did not formally act like a politician,” writes the paper. It says Tsarukian’s and the BHK’s position on the thorny issue of taxing cement imported to Armenia is a vivid of example of such a conflict of interest. They want significant tariffs on cement imports because the country’s largest cement plant, Ararat Tsement, is owned by Tsarukian, and that is “not a normal phenomenon,” it says. “Parliament deputies cannot simultaneously represent the interests of their voters and one person’s business interests,” concludes “Aravot.” “Haykakan Zhamanak” says that Mihran Poghosian, a former senior official facing corruption charges in Armenia, requested political asylum in Russia after being detained there late last week. The pro-government paper dismisses Poghosian’s claims that he is prosecuted for political reasons. It also notes growing suspicions among ordinary people that the Armenian authorities allowed indicted former officials like Poghosian to flee the country in return for hefty payments. While sharing these concerns, the paper says that the authorities would break the law if they banned every ex-official from travelling abroad. “Zhoghovurd” comments on questions surrounding significant assets that have been declared by Argishti Kyaramian, one of the deputies of Davit Sanasarian, the head of the State Oversight Service (SOS) prosecuted on corruption charges. The paper wonders how Kyaramian, who previously worked as a tax inspector and law-enforcement official, acquired them. The official is expected to run the SOS pending the outcome of the ongoing corruption case against Sanasarian. (Lilit Harutiunian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org