Emphasizing the need for the creation of an independent anti-corruption body in Armenia and being the initiator and supporter of introduction of this mechanism in the Republic, the CSOs’ Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia (hereafter in the text the Anti-Corruption Coalition) expresses its concern related to the approval of the legislative package on the “Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on Corruption Prevention and on the Body for Corruption Prevention” and related legal acts (hereafter in the text Draft) at today’s Government session. The Anti-Corruption Coalition’s concerns are based on the following grounds:
The draft has not been discussed in the Anti-Corruption Council of the RA, one of the major authorities of which is coordination and implementation of anti-corruption policies, as well as organizing related public discussions. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Coalition, as a member of the Anti-Corruption Council, has formally applied to the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Council, the Prime Minister of the RA and recommended to organize public debates prior to including the issue in the agenda of the Council’s meeting. Actually, introducing the above mentioned draft to the Government Session without discussing it at the Anti-Corruption Council undermines the impact and effectiveness of activities of the Anti-Corruption Council of the RA.
In the first half of 2016, the Anti-Corruption Coalition, the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (hereafter in the text the Association), in cooperation with other sectoral CSOs and the RA Ministry of Justice developed two draft models for the anti-corruption body: the universal independent anti-corruption body and anti-corruption prevention body. They were presented at the Anti-Corruption Council meeting on 15 June, 2016. As a result, the Minister of Justice was instructed to thoroughly discuss the proposed models with civil society representatives and submit an appropriate proposal to the Government.
However, a working group to ensure reforms in the anti-corruption institutional system in the area of fight against corruption was established by the order of 20 December 2016, of the RA President. Later the group developed the “Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on Corruption Prevention and the Ethics Commission,” and then the “Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on Corruption Prevention and on the Body for Corruption Prevention.” Unfortunately, the working group did not include the CSOs which were involved at the start of these anti-corruption reforms, represented by the Anti-Corruption Coalition. Both legal acts were published in e-draft.am website. However the public was not properly informed about it and only the Anti-Corruption Coalition and the Association had presented recommendations. Our claim that CSOs were unaware of the draft is supported by a number of media publications. Moreover, the Anti-Corruption Coalition and the Association have repeatedly offered their assistance in this matter to organize public debates on the draft.
Next, one should mention that the final versions of the mentioned draft legal acts exclusively expressed the views of the Government on the anti-corruption body and not those of the CSOs. The next concern from this aspect is that the summary document related to this issue presented today at the Government meeting by RA Ministry of Justice did not include the recommendations of the Anti-Corruption Coalition and the Association.
Transitional provisions of the draft approved by the Government include the following regulation, “1. After this law comes into force the Ethics Commission of High Ranking Officials shall be renamed to the Commission on the Prevention of Corruption”. 2. After this law comes into force the members of the Ethics Commission of High Ranking Officials remain in office until the appointment of members of the Commission by the National Assembly pursuant to the requirements of Article 12 of this Law.”
The above legal regulation does not provide for full independence of the Commission, as its members should be appointed as a result of a public tender. The study of international experience shows that the head of the anti-corruption body should be appointed by the legislative body, ensuring its impartiality and independence as a result of open and transparent competition. The Jakarta principles, which are considered to be the cornerstone document of fight against corruption, also provide that the head of the anti-corruption body should be appointed in a process which is apolitical, neutral and impartial.
Another argument is the fact that the authors of the draft have chosen the combination of separate anti-corruption preventive and law enforcement anti-corruption bodies. But they did not consider it completely and no complete solution is recommended, because the legislative package lacks the draft law on anti-corruption law enforcement or other authority, which shall have the corruption investigation function. In addition, there are fundamental shortcomings in the draft related with ensuring independence and effectiveness of the preventive body.
The proposed model has adopted a collegial body approach, without justifying this format, while the study of international experience shows that the best model for an effective anti-corruption body is one with individual rather than collective leadership.
The Anti-Corruption Coalition considers it inadmissible to adopt such decision by the Government without public debates, without taking into account the opinion of civil society when passing such an important draft, and believes that such a practice is not in line with the principles of good governance and integrity, openness, transparency and public participation in governance. Concerns raised by a number of agencies during today’s Government session are evidence of this. In particular, the representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the summary paper of acceptance or rejection of the proposals by the department has not been submitted, and asked to include the department in the discussions in future. Similar requests were made by the Central Bank of the RA and other bodies.
The Government had shown almost the same approach in 2014, while developing and adopting a concept for the fight against corruption in the public administration system.
Thus, based on the aforesaid, the Anti-Corruption Coalition calls:
The Government of the RA:
• To reconsider the above decision on approving the draft legislative package,
The Prime Minister of the RA:
• to urgently convene a meeting of the Anti-Corruption Council of the RA to organize a professional discussion on the draft,
• to present the draft law for public debates,
The President of the National Assembly of the RA:
• to hold parliamentary hearings on the draft law involving all the interested parties
All Factions and Members of the National Assembly of the RA
• to actively participate in the discussions of the draft law presenting the concerns and recommendations of all interested parties, including CSOs,
• to develop the final draft law on the conceptual basis of national unity and solidarity expressing the expectations of all sectors of the society regarding the fight against corruption in Armenia.
Governing Board of the CSOs Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia
