During the regular lecture of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders, the participants discussed the concept, types, verification stages of the declarations of property and income of the officials and conflict of interests, the legislative regulations under the RA Law and gaps under the light of best international practice.
Ms Mariam Zadoyan, Lawyer/Expert of the CSO Anti-Corruption of Armenia conducted the lecture.
The declarations have two main objectives: to uncover the cases of illicit enrichment and conflict of interests. The declarations are submitted to the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials of the Republic of Armenia, which are published on its official website at www.ethics.am. After the formation of the Corruption Prevention Commission, it will be the body that maintains the Roster of Declarations.
Mariam Zadoyan said that although the declarations are submitted in only at the moment of assuming the office, termination and annually, yet there are also other types of declarations in international practice, such as declaration upon request, declaration on making substantial changes in it, and so on.
In international practice, it is recognized that the body which maintains the registry shall carry out the following four stages in order to effectively verify the declarations:
- Checking compliance with the requirements for submitting the reports;
- Checking compliance with the requirements for filling out the form,
- Verification of validity,
- Financial Audit:
In addition, according to the expert, among the gaps in the law is the fact that the inactive expenditures are not declared, i.e. expensive air tickets, hotel rentals and so on, so it is impossible to analyze the inflow and outflow of cash and make conclusions.
It is important for us to continually bring all officials to the legislative field, as currently there are a number of wealthy officials who do not have an obligation to declare.
Another problem is that the information to be published is very limited.
Theoretical part is accompanied by a practical task designed for the purpose of teaching the students to analyze declarations.
“The Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO is organizing the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders in cooperation with the Armenian CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition.
Iravaban.net independent information website is the information partner of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders.
