The Government plans to rename the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, but the changes will not be completed with this merely.
According to the draft published on the website of publishing the drafts of the legal acts, the Commission shall be renamed to Corruption Prevention Body.
The new body will have the same composition as the former one, five members: the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and three members.
In case where the RA Law on Public Service provided that “a citizen over 30 years of age, with higher education, having high moral values, who is recognized and respected by the society and having at least 10 years of work experience may be appointed a member of Commission” the requirement of the length of work experience in the new draft has been changed as is read as follows: “a Citizen of the Republic of Armenia over 30 years of age, with higher education, with a good command of the Armenian language, having high moral values, who is recognized and respected by the society and having at least 5 years of work experience, of which at least 3 years in the ant-corruption or integrity sphere may be appointed a member of the Commission.”
It is possible that this change was made on the recommendation of the Ethics Committee, because Siranush Sahakyan, the current Chairperson of the Body, according to her CV, has been engaged in legal activities, but does not have the experience of 10 years in the field of anti-corruption and/or integrity. Maybe her work experience as a President of the “Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO in the period of 2009-2013 can be considered as such work experience, as well as the position of the Chairperson of the Ethics Commission. Thus, considering the aforesaid, she has only 7 years of experience in the anti-corruption sphere.
Under the new draft the Ethics Commission members will receive a similar immunity as the members of the National Assembly. It also stipulates that criminal prosecution against the member can be initiated only with the consent of the members, by the majority notes of the members except the cases when the member was caught committing a crime or immediately thereafter
We have to make a view back to answer the question whether the new body which will be formed on the basis of the ethics commission, the same staff would be effective and to find what they have done in the recent years.
0 Efficiency
Since 2012, this body has initiated only 5 proceedings. The last one was against Artak Shaboyan, the Chairman of the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition, but the Commission has done nothing in this direction as after a few days the applicant has withdrawn the claim.
The commission members are receiving high salaries. For example, the Chairperson, Mrs. Sahakyan annual salary is 10.3 million AMD, which means that her monthly salary totals to 860 thousand AMD.
Nearly four years millions of dollars from the state budget were spent for the purpose that the Commission members receive and enter the declarations of the officials, and also to also complain that they did not have enough serious powers to carry out broader activities, and at the same time did not undertake any steps to identify the fraud and irregularities in the declarations.
Of course the members of the Commission managed to visit Slovenia, Argentina, the United States and other countries at the expense of international organizations.
The Activity Report for the period of 2012 – 2015 of the Commission consists of only 18 pages. The Commission has done nothing related to conflict of interests. The just 3 page section “Ethics and Conflict of Interests” is a mere legal analysis and summary information on the declarations.
Queries regarding the commission indicate that the public is not complaining about its activity or inactivity, but is not aware that such body operates for 4 years at the expense of the taxes they pay.
Not only the ordinary citizens were unaware of the Commission’s activity. Experts of the sector, parliamentarians and lawyers: during our interviews, they either first heard about the body or jointly stated that it did not operate effectively.
“I have not seen their work,” MP Aram Manukyan said. “The Ethics Commission exists in name only,” Anahit Bakhshyan stated. MP Edmon Marukyan speaking about the commission said, “It turns out that you have a form but not content.” MP form the Republican Party Hovhannes Sahakyan was completely unaware that there was an intention to extend the mandate of this Commission. This list still may be continued.
In this case, there is a question to the government, “What is the point of creating a new body based on the grounds of the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, which is likely to have the same fate?”
How this Draft was formed?
On 2 September, 2015, creation of the new state and the civil society platform was announced. The CSOs Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia and the Ministry of Justice decided to set up joint working groups. The working groups conducted activities in several directions, carried out studies and developed two models (options) of the Anti-Corruption Body,
The Models were presented at the Meeting of Anti-Corruption Council on 15 June. As a result the Minister of Justice was instructed to discuss the proposed models, contradicting aspects and in cooperation with the representatives of the civil society submit an appropriate proposal to the Government. The Prime Minister also spoke about this a few months later, to discuss all the proposals. The Prime Minister also spoke about this a few months later, and instructed to discuss all the proposals.
We have already talked about the first model. As for the second model, according to the experts it is more effective. The second model, which was not put for public discussion, has three components; therefore, in addition to preventive and educational functions the new body would have the investigative function as well.
On 6 December 2016, the President held a meeting. The President was already informed about the first model. Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan said that it would be developed on the basis of the Commission of Ethics and thus expands the scope of the powers of this Commission.
The President approved the idea and instructed to form a new working group, underlining the importance to listen to all interested structures.
Thus the second working group was formed, which this time was led by the Minister. The Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials was included in the group, but not the CSOs’ Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia.
This new working group in its turn, and not publicly, developed and put into circulation a new draft which was in favor Commission of Ethics and its interests.
Also read:
Where did the Ethics Committee of Senior Officials visit: the USA, Argentina or both Countries?
