17:59, 1 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. The fight against corruption is a matter of fundamental importance for Armenia, there cannot be any case of corruption, the investigation of which does not take place properly, ARMENPRESS reports Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

"The fight against corruption is a matter of fundamental importance for Armenia. And we will not weaken our efforts in this fight in any way," said Pashinyan.

As for the facts published by the opposition, which refer to corruption cases, the Prime Minister assured that the law enforcement bodies are also interested in these facts.

"I must assure that there cannot be any case of corruption that will not be properly investigated. It is excluded that there will be any corruption case and that case will not be investigated at a proper level," said Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister noted that corruption, first of all, is connected with state administration, local self-government bodies, judicial and other systems. The Prime Minister emphasized that his position remains very clear: in the field of public administration, in the judicial system there should be a significant increase in salaries.

"It is not possible to say on the one hand: let's fight against corruption, let the state bodies provide quality services and say that, for example, there should be a specialist working in the ministries for 90 or 110 thousand drams, and on the other hand, let's expect things to go quickly and with good quality. In this regard, we implemented the anti-corruption strategy adopted in 2018 and now we are in the process of developing a new strategy," said Pashinyan.

According to the Prime Minister, the biggest problem is criminal mentality, there is simply no more fertile ground for corruption and criminality than criminal mentality. "We have to make a transition from the criminal mindset to relations based on the law," concluded the Prime Minister.