The Corruption Prevention Commission has decided to exempt Gagik Tsarukyan, the chairman of the ‘Prosperous Armenia’ party, from administrative liability and issue a verbal warning.

According to Iravaban.net, the party failed to comply with the Constitutional Law on Parties in 2022 by not returning the excess part of donations exceeding the established limit to the donor within two weeks of receiving them, or transferring it to the state budget if impossible.

The Commission sent a letter to the party requesting information on all bank accounts (except for pre-election funds), account statements, and several other contracts and documents within five days.

On March 22, 2024, the party submitted the requested information. Simultaneously, the party reported no disagreement with the annual report’s audit conclusion and the discrepancies and violations identified in the “Letter to Management” document.

The Corruption Prevention Commission’s investigation revealed that the annual report table included a donation of 2,930,000 drams to the party by Varduhi Yorgandjyan. It was also discovered that during the reporting year, Yorgandjyan made a total deposit of 5,370,000 drams to the party’s bank account.

Due to the discovery of the aforementioned violation, the Commission sent a notification to Gagik Tsarukyan on August 22, 2024, regarding the apparent violation of failing to transfer donations exceeding the legal limit or unauthorized donations to the state budget or the donor within the legally prescribed period, inviting him to the Commission.

Tsarukyan, duly notified of the place and time for drawing up the administrative offense report, did not appear before the Commission, did not ensure the participation of his representative, and did not submit a request to postpone it before the administrative offense report was drawn up.

On September 6 this year, the party submitted a bank payment declaration to the Commission, according to which 2,870,000 drams, the donation exceeding the legal limit, was transferred to Varduhi Yorgandjyan.

As a result of submitting evidence proving the transfer of the excess donation amount to the donor in this case, the Commission noted that the essence of the legal relationships protected by the norm was not undermined.

The Commission decided: 

The Corruption Prevention Commission has decided to exempt Gagik Tsarukyan, the chairman of the “Prosperous Armenia” party, from administrative liability and issue a verbal warning, terminating the administrative offense proceedings.

The decision enters into force on the day following its proper delivery (or deemed delivery) to Gagik Tsarukyan.

The decision can be appealed.

Mariam Antonyan