The Corruption Prevention Commission of Armenia has initiated proceedings against Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan, on the basis of an apparent conflict of interest; Haykuhi Harutyunyan, the chairperson of the commission, confirmed to News.am.
A post of data.hetq.am served as a basis for the proceedings.
Accordingly, the Corruption Prevention Commission was informed that the Ministry of Health had signed service contracts with a company whose director is Vardanush Tevanyan, the wife of Torosyan.
Under these contracts, the company was obligated to provide hospital services, e-health spending reimbursement and computed tomography.
Reacting to the proceedings, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan said that the minister had repeatedly addressed the issue much discussed in the media before.
"We do not see a real conflict of interest here, as he or his family are not members of the company and have not received any other property improvements due to the contracts signed with the ministry,” she said in a Facebook post.
“These contracts are not subsidies or donations to organizations, but they are contracts for the provision of state-funded medical services, under which many eligible citizens of Armenia receive medical services," the spokeswoman wrote, adding the minister or his representative will present their arguments to the commission if needed.