2024-02-19 13:17:54
The cases and institutional reforms show that corruption phenomena are still systemic and large-scale, said Siranush Sahakyan, former chairman of the Corruption Prevention Commission, human rights activist, while talking to Aysor.am about the fight against corruption in our country.
According to him, corruption in our country is in all its manifestations. , they relate to all fields: educational, health, legal, economic, etc. There is no progress from the point of view of institutional solutions, the institutionalization of the Corruption Prevention Commission is problematic, the appointments and nomination processes are problematic. In general, this body is subject to political influences.”
Sahakyan recalled the nomination process of the former chairman of the commission. “I don’t want to make an assessment related to that specific incident, but the existing politicization problems became very visible to the public, and all the vicious past and present processes were also demonstrated in the appointment process. But in terms of officials elected by the parliament, we see a problem of politicization in other contexts as well. This was also clearly demonstrated in the case of the Central Government, and we have serious, insurmountable problems related to the independence of the highest authority. And all this, of course, is evaluated by international structures, public perceptions are also important.”
The human rights defender emphasized that in the post-revolutionary period, some progress was made in the field of corruption prevention, which, according to him, was also a means of support and encouragement. “I would also like to mention that Georgia and other countries that have made progress have been subjected to the same trends, but now they are on a much worse benchmark than, for example, Armenia could have been 5-10 years ago. After this encouraging process, it was expected that there would be real, not imitation, processes in Armenia, but this did not happen and the international structures must adjust the number to the reality, regardless of the support of the authorities on their side or other tendencies, they have to take into account the objective facts. We hear of cases where corruption cases are punished. I am very positive about it, but we must keep in mind that punitive actions cannot be demonstrative, just for the purpose of creating a punishable imitation among the public, and on the other hand, they cannot be selective.”
When asked why the authorities are unable to effectively fight corruption, with the promises of which they came to power, Sahakyan said: “I think here the incompetents have combined and we have a combination of several negative qualities. Perhaps there is political will in separate circles, but here we do not have a strong consolidated political will that would show zero tolerance. And at that time, making promises, people did not appreciate the temptation of positions, the human temptation to get unemployed, quick income, and when people who have no value system and low morals take positions, corrupt behavior becomes inevitable. On the other hand, such promises were made in such conditions when they were deprived of the opportunity to earn money through corrupt schemes, but when the opportunities were given, they realized the power of temptation and the lack of will.”
Let’s remind that a few days ago “Transparency International” published a report in which it was mentioned that the progress in the fight against corruption in Armenia has stopped.
And today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at the government session that the will of the government’s anti-corruption policy has not decreased by a single millimeter, on the contrary, it has increased.
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