ArmInfo. In 2020, donor assistance to the Corruption Prevention Commission of the RA from the U.S., the CoE and the UN exceeded the allocations from the state budget of the Republic, Commission Chairwoman Haykuhi Harutyunyan said on June 4 during the preliminary discussion of the annual report "On the execution of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2020".
So, according to her, 219.4 million drams were allocated to finance the activities of the Commission in 2020 according to the specified program, but at the end of the year the amount of 60 million drams was returned to the state budget.
At the same time, as Harutyunyan recalled, the Commission was formed in November 2018, meanwhile, the budget of the department was approved earlier, within the framework of various intermediate processes.
"As a result, the submitted budget, as well as the report on its implementation, in fact in no way reflects not only the financial, but also the final performance of the Commission," she said. In particular, according to her, when calculating the budget, its authors were guided by the financial indicators of the Commission on ethics of high-ranking officials, on the basis of which the body was formed. Meanwhile, the functionality and apparatus of the new commission is much broader.
In this regard, as Harutyunyan said, in order to fill this gap and not fail in such an important direction for the state, the Commission conducted rather close cooperation with international donors. In particular, within the framework of various cooperation programs with bodies from the US, CE, UN, donor assistance exceeded budgetary allocations and, in general, amounted to $ 900 thousand. The funds were used to purchase property, work on capital repairs of the territory provided to the Commission. The resources of the state budget were enough only to pay the salaries of employees.
Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly, member of the ruling "My Step" faction Vladimir Vardanyan, reacted to this statement, calling it "unacceptable." "Government agencies can be financed exclusively from the state budget," he said, hinting that . In response, Harutyunyan explained that the Commission did not receive a penny directly, for example, the donor organization transferred funds to the company from which the services were purchased. To recall, the decision to create a commission was made in July 2017 with the adoption of the law "On the body for the prevention of corruption." The Commission was established on the basis of the Commission on Ethics of High-ranking Officials in accordance with a number of international conventions ratified by Armenia. The body carries out functions to prevent corruption, including compliance with ethical requirements, conflicts of interest and other restrictions applied to officials and civil servants, implementation of asset and income declaration systems, and raising public awareness. The body is also endowed with the necessary instrumentation and leverage. One of the most important elements of this toolkit is the right to sanction. In addition, in case of violation of the requirements related to the declaration, the authority will immediately apply sanctions. The list of persons who undertake to submit declarations is also expanding. Haykui Harutyunyan was elected as the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission on November 26, 2019 following an open vote with the participation of five members of the commission.
