The Corruption Prevention Commission has a department conducting integrity study, which conducts integrity study on persons applying to public office and provides a positive or negative conclusion. There have been cases when candidates with a negative opinion of the department were elected or appointed to the position anyway. Iravaban.net spoke with Haykuhi Harutyunyan, the Chairwoman of the Corruption Prevention Commission, about the secrecy of the mentioned conclusions and the possibility of their publication.
Speaking about making the conclusions public, she noted that sometimes such ambitious decisions are incompatible with the Armenian environment.
“For example, during one of the discussions in the Yerevan Municipality, such a question was raised, ‘what problem can arise if a person holding a civil service position carries out passenger transportation as a taxi driver after his working hours and has a second job?’ I should mention that at the moment, it is forbidden by law to have a second job while holding a civil service position. Suppose you visited the Commission today and saw that the Commission employee provided you with a certain service, within the limits of his authority. Also, on your way home from work, you see that the same employee is driving a taxi and has to take you home. Now, in all honesty, what is your attitude towards it? Do we tolerate this kind of “fluctuation” on a personal, individual level? Haykuhi Harutyunyan stressed and noted that publishing such opinions will create a risky environment for the candidate for the position.
The Chairwoman of the Corruption Prevention Commission noted that the conclusion may have a serious impact on the person’s future professional activity. “Imagine the public flogging of that person in case we published that negative opinion.”
She mentioned that the Commission is against publishing the opinion in its entirety, but they believe that publishing only the final part of it will not cause problems, after the appointment of the person to the position.
“The final part states whether the opinion is positive or not. If it is positive, but yet with a reservation, then the reasons are indicated. The same procedure is in relation with the negative opinion. In other words, the entire descriptive section, where a detailed analysis was done, is not in the final section,” Haykuhi Harutyunyan emphasized, adding that the draft already exists, but now it is the stage of developing the anti-corruption strategy and only after that it will take its final form.
Speaking about the process of developing the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2023-2026, the CPC Chairwoman noted that their approaches to some issues differ from those of the executive.
They refer both to the process of studying integrity and to the standard rules of behavior of public servants.
