“Illegal enrichment should be fixed in legislation and responsibilities for this action should be defined,” Gevorg Haytapetyan, lawyer of “Freedom of Information Center of Armenia” NGO said in the interview with Iravaban.net.
According to him, the opponents argue that Armenia is not ready for such a legislative change; there are no adequate mechanisms for the application of such provision, and it is likely that this tool may serve for political retribution.
“In fact, I do not share those concerns. Providing responsibility and incorporation in law is really important. Even if at this stage it is not criminal responsibility, but merely an administrative responsibility,” Gevorg Hayrapetyan thinks that in this stage provision of administrative offense may be considered as a “middle ground”.
He notes that there is no reasonable explanation as to if Armenia is not prepared for the adoption of such a norm today, whether it would be ready for that tomorrow. As for the political retribution, he said that each person can defend his rights.
Gevorg Hayrapetyan also noted that fixing illegal enrichment as legally inadmissible action shall have a preventive nature and the atmosphere of impunity among the officials will be eliminated.
