Advocate Marat Atovmyan, Board Member of the Armenian Young Lawyers Association, spoke about anti-corruption system of four former Soviet republics at the workshop on “Possibilities and Challenges for the establishment of Independent Institutional System for the Fight Against Corruption in the Republic of Armenia.”
According to him, this body is called the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, with an annual budget of 5 million Euros, and has 130 employees. “The Bureau directly reports to the prime minister, who has the right to cancel its reports, but he cannot not affect the work of the Bureau,” Mr. Atovmyan noted.
Presenting the results of the Bureau’s activity, he said that within the scope of its work, the former Health Minister of Latvia, prosecutors, investigators and some teachers were charged with taking bribe. There were even attempts to bribe the members of the Bureau.
There is a Special Investigation Service in Lithuania which conforms to the similar body in Armenia only by the name. However it also is intended to combat corruption.
“The next country is Moldova where the National Anti-Corruption Center has been working since 2002,” said the expert.
Georgia is the fourth country. The Anti-Corruption Council was created here during the tenure of the former president Mikhail Saakashvili. It is composed of 38 members.
