Panorama.am
19:20 01/09/06
American Embassy urges Armenian officials to investigate corruption
allegations
Today US Embassy in Armenia makes an announcement: `There has been a
great deal of media commentary in recent days about an alleged tape
that the U.S. Ambassador is said to have conveyed to President
Kocharian implicating a government minister for corruption. We are
unaware of the existence of any such tape, and have not conveyed any
tape to the President. We have a continuing dialogue with Armenian
government officials at many levels on the well-known problem of
official corruption. When we become aware of credible allegations of
corruption, we of course convey this information to appropriate
Armenian officials at a high level. We strongly urge Armenian
officials to investigate and prosecute corruption allegations, and
especially those involving government ministers or other senior
officials. Armenia cannot develop into a fully successful democratic
and economically sound state without assurance of integrity at all
levels of government’.