Newly Established Department For Fighting Corrupti

[MosJan]

NEWLY ESTABLISHED DEPARTMENT FOR FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA WILL COMBAT THIS EVIL IN ALL STATE STRUCTURES

 

YEREVAN, MAY 4. ARMINFO. The new Department for Fighting Corruption established at the Prosecutor General's Office in Armenia will combat this evil in all the state structures, including, in the law-enforcement bodies and in the Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutor General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepyan told journalists today.

 

He said within ten days the department's regulations will be elaborated, which will fix all the directions of its activity. Hovsepyan said that the department will closely cooperate with the Presiential Supervisory Service, with the Presidential Adviser for Struggle against Corruption and other structures. Hovsepyan expressed an opinion that the corruption is especially spread in economic structures

[Vigil]

Who will regulate the "Department of Corruptions" corruption?

 

On a serious note it sounds like a good deal, however, lets hope they follow through.

Edited May 31, 2004 by Vigil

[vava]

Who will regulate the "Department of Corruptions" corruption?

 

On a serious note it sounds like a good deal, however, lets hope they follow through.

You say it with a smile Vigil... and yet, there are many who lack any optimism that such a structure (Anti-Corruption Commission) will have any real effect. Corruption almost invariably starts from the top down - and we know what that means.

 

Let's hope that this isn't just window dressing.

[Sasun]

I would like to be optimistic, but Aghvan Hovsepian is himself corrupt and anyone who is a top official is corrupt.

[Armen]

I won't ever believe an anti-corruption plan if the wages of government officials at least at the top and middle level aren't sufficient (which they are not).

A judge or a police officer or a ministerial official with $100 a month or even $300 is never going to be honest. A ministerial level wage in Armenia is around $200-$250 a month. Almost every minister wares at least $300 suite.

There's a very thin line between corrution and private business and people like Andranik Manukian, Transport Minister are taking advantage of it. From one point of view, he cannot be easily corruted beacause he's millionere. But I don't believe he is the best professional on transport and communication in Armenia.

If we go down the hierarchy, people on deputy-minister level either own small scale businesses or else are heavily corrupt. Middle level officials like a head of department or division almost in all cases are engaged either in direct corrution or in protectonism (=indirect corruption).

So, the first anti-corruption move is to incease the wages at least for some part of the officials and set a new strickt criteria for being jailed for corruption.

 

Second and most important, if we don't see an effective rise in tax collection, anti-corruption plan is a joke. No one knows how the biggest businesses (the monopolies) operate in Armenia. None of them has any kind of public resposibility. The corporate legislation in place is not being enforced. Companies put "LTD." in there names as if they have coporate shareholders in case when most of them are either propiatorships or partnerships.

Very small chunck of companies went public. The major part of Armenia's population owns no assets and is out of the market, i.e. does not even care what happens in countries economy. They receive money from abroad, don't pay taxes. All the government does is collect tax from bank interest revenue on transferred money and tax from trade and retail companies that bring that goods to the consumer.

Armenia doesn't have a wealth accumulation mechanizm. To put it roughly we just receive money from abroad and spend it on imports.

If these problems are not solved, there is no anti-corruption plan.

And look who's the embodiment of anti-corrpution plan: the Prime Minister. When I look at his dumb eyes, hear his khorovats and vodka flavoured voice and "lumpenised" behaviour all I can think is "CO-RRUP-TION".

For the first stage corrution in Armenia needs to be fought the "Saakashvili way". You just jail people until they pay money. Like Shavardnadze's son-in-law (payed $15 million to get out).

[vava]

Nice to have you back again Armen...

 

I'm no expert in the Armenian economy, but are you saying that there's no tax collection system? Or that the mechanism to enforce tax collection isn't up to par? Either way, I can't see there being much revenue (apart from foreign aid, and that's not always stable) in merely collecting taxes from importers. In that case, is this on of the main reasons behind the sell off of government assets to the russians?

[Armen]

Hello Vava,

Nice to see you too.

Yes you're right the tax collection system is weak.

What are the most lucrative businesses in Armenia? They are diamond cutting, alcohol production (brandy, wine etc), petroleum, grain, sugar, tobbaco food-stuffs construction materials' and car imports. All these are controlled by a small group of people. The three biggest monopolies nuclear, hidro and termo energy plants, electricity distribution networks, telecommunications and gas are Russian and Greek.

Armentel has been and still remains one of the big issues. What an idiot would sell a telecummunication company to Greeks when German Siemens was there with a nice proposal. And I'm not even mentioning the line-up of all kinds of renowned companies like Samsung etc., which were ready to invest in Armentel. Telecommunication is one of those industries, where you have good returns without investing too much, that's why if any new telecom market opens (especially one that owns the whole system in a given state) muti-nationals rush to own it. Would you ever believe a Greek company being a leader in telecom industry? Maybe in shipping and marine trade they are, but never telecom. I can never believe that they offered us the best privatization deal. They were chosen simply because our govt had another "deal" with them. That's why the Greeks control their monopoly, not even trying to make the investments they undertook by the privatisation agreement. Can you believe that Armenia's cell phone system has a limited number of available lines? In 2002 when the number of lines was nearing the end, Armentel introduces a lottery (! Called "Easy Card") on the remaining number of lines and people rushed to buy them. At present a Russian company is awaiting the ending of the Armentel monopoly on wireless telecom to buy it. And we still have a couple of years to get rid of Armentel's monopoly on the Internet providing and regular telecom. I am 95% sure that Armentel was not paying all its tax. Otherwise, why would our government sell it to the Greeks?

Now, project this on almost all spheres of Armenian economy.

 

A visiting friend from Europe once told me: "If I see poor roads and BMWs on them, I'm sure that I am in a banana republic". That was back in 1997.

 

Nothing has changed. The roads as we all know were rebuilt by Kerkorian's money. Armenian oligarkhs (like those who control all kinds of imports) buy every new model of Mercedes or BMW. A businessman who earned his money working hard would never waste it on luxurious cars and huge villas. They could have invested that money into small business. And I'm sure they escape taxes, because aren't the taxes high enough to make them think twice before buying that car? If the taxes are not that high, then probably the tax inspection miscalculated the probability of effective tax collection.

I'm sure that they all bought there first $100.000 Mercedeses when they earned their first million. They don't think in terms of months and years, they think in days. Their hunger for joy and satisfation is enormous. And this is just unacceptable for a counrty like Armenia, which have been though so much hardship.

When I see a guy like Monte dead and a guy like Lfik Samo (Samvel Aleksanian) in parlaiment and owning a wheat and suger import monopoly I just can't undestand the whole logic of this. And I'm sure that Lfik Samo is putting a flower to Genocide memorial every year.

I don't believe that our government has no means to pay its bureaucracy a decent wage. In Armenia when you need money for something big and governmental, it always there.

It is just that they have the opportunity to live good and they don't want to miss it. Not one day.

 

They sold everything to Russians because from they first day of independence they didn't care for the country's strategic assets. Plant equipment worth billions was sold abroad. None of this money went into investment. They just "ate" all of it.

 

The thing is that even if Kocharian wanted to change it, he is almost unable. His power rests on these people. And if he moves against them the opposition will use this chance to topple him. It is a vicious sircle. He will need a big sacrifice to achieve this. At present it seems unlikely.

 

Sorry for spoiling your mood

[Sasun]

According to official data tax evasion is very high in Armenia. Last year there were huge amount of losses reported on part of corporations, obviously this is a large scale fraud as it would mean the country has had a GDP decline instead of increase. Most big businesses reported losses while, as Armen points, the number of luxury cars only increases. These people are too greedy. If you talk to them they will almost cry telling you the taxes are so high that they cannot pay so they have to bribe tax people and get away with that. It's a lie, the businesses that are already on their feet make rapid, fat profits. They are just too greedy and irresponsible. There is no sense of duty to their country. If they had a little integrity they would feel that instead of wasting money on building up their bellies and on other mundane things they could pay taxes and feel better because if they do so they can make a difference in terms of countries development. Not that they would be doing a favor, but doing the right thing would make them feel better citizens and better Armenians. But of course you can't expect this from people with dubious backgrounds.

The situation is different with small businesses, these small businesses are in most cases incapable of paying sometimes nonsensical taxes and survive. They have to choose to pay the taxes and shut down, or go other ways. On the other hand, their dues are not that much anyway.

[Vigil]

Edited May 31, 2004 by Vigil

[Azatutyun]

I need to be an optimist because the only the thing in life that will remain by your side is hope and once hope is lost everything else follows.

 

The situation in Armenia is going to get worse before it gets better, which is one of the absolutes you come to understand in life.

 

The other universal constant is that "if anything can go wrong, it will", which is why you must constantly prepare yourself for the worst and before confronting the ugliness must already know that you will remain standing at the end of the day.

 

How does knowing you will fail before hand aid you in wining the battle? It doesn't and only serves to demoralize your self-confidence in your ability to succeed and win.

The Kotcharian administration fighting corruption is like the pyromaniac enlisting in the fire guard.

 

They'll go after a few small fish when in fact most of them should be behind bars.

Edited May 20, 2004 by Azatutyun