“The ethics commission should be more concerned about whether the mayor of Vanadzor will apologize or not. If the ethics commission will not see to the implementation of its decisions, it is its problem,” Artur Sakunts, the head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, said in response to our question whether the mayor of Vanadzor would publicly apologize or not.
Let us remind that the Ethics Commission for High-Ranking Officials, confirmed A. Sakunts’s report on a breach of high-ranking officials’ ethics. The commission suggested that Samvel Darbinyan, the mayor of Vanadzor, make a clearly-defined and unequivocal apology to the persons whom he had offended by his phrase and put the text of it on the website of Vanadzor City Hall. Explaining Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) leader S. Sargsyan’s defeat in Vanadzor, the mayor of Vanadzor stated on the website of Hetq Online on
February 21, 2013: “It was not our leader’s defeat, it was the unconsciousness of our people; the people don’t know themselves what they are doing.”
In response to our next question what impact this decision would have on officials’ behavior, and whether the existing problems would be solved by one apology, Mr. Sakunts said: “The ethics commission just gives an assessment. The public, political force and government bodies should draw a conclusion. As always, I have reservations about political will. If the London Police Chief resigns, because one of his subordinates has taken illegal actions, it means that their culture is absolutely different from ours.” The Ethics Commission for High-Ranking Officials made another decision in favor of Gagik Khachatryan, the SRC chairman. The inquiry into the report of the Transparency International Anticorruption Center NGO on G. Khachatryan’s being engaged in business or on a conflict of interest, considering his official duties, has been concluded. According to the decision that has been made, the evidence in the report is not sufficient for the commission to conclude that the involvement of G. Khachatryan, the SRC chairman, with the mentioned companies constituted a conflict of interest. www.aravot.am inquired of Varuzhan Hoktanyan, the CEO of the Transparency International Anticorruption Center, whether the commission had made the right decision. He replied: “Judging from the letter of the law, I cannot say that they made a wrong decision. But it is a different matter that on the one hand, the law should be improved, on the other hand, a culture should be formed. It is also important to consider the issue from the following perspective; if G. Khachatryan hadn’t been the SRC chairman, would his or his uncle’s sons have had those businesses and do they have certain advantages, are in a more favorable position than other businessmen involved in that area? It is also unclear whether Gagik Khachatryan is engaged in business or not. According to the formal decision, he is not, but it is very hard to determine whether it is actually the case. As the President of the Republic of Armenia says, our high-ranking officials have learned the lesson that everything should be proper on paper. Therefore, our task is to try to determine to what extent a high-ranking official’s informal involvement in business contributes to an atmosphere of discrimination.” In this sense, V. Hoktanyan attaches importance to the fact that the second clause of the decision suggests that a procedure be adopted, according to which before an official assumes an office, he should inform that his first- or second-degree relative has businesses, and there is danger of a conflict of interest.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
