On 7 May, 2020, the regular distance learning course of the 5th stream of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders took place. The topic of the training was “Public Service System in Armenia Declarations on of Property, Income and Conflict of Interest of Public Servants:”. Ms Mariam Zadoyan, Lawyer/Expert, Advocate at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association delivered the lecture.

The course again by filling in of the pre-test, which helped the students to test their initial knowledge on the above topic. The lecturer summarized the provisions and authorities concerning the public servant according to the Law on Public Service. After which, the purpose and the types of the declaration were presented. The lecturer also spoke about the reliability testing mechanisms, such as:

• Confirmation of the amount of inflows,
• Confirmation of the amount of outflows,
• Matching of the input and output cash flows.

The lecturer also touched upon the important tools for checking the declarations, including the information sources.

Mariam Zadoyan spoke about the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials – the body that previously exercised control, and added that this function is carried out by the  Corruption Prevention Commission.

In addition, the lecturer mentioned the problems in the field, including:

• not all officials have responsibility of declaration,
• Spouses registered in fact or only in church rites do not have the obligation to declare
• Some family members who do not live with the family do not have the obligation to declare, e.g. mother-in-law,
• Expenses that are not assets are not declared yet, for example, vacations, travels.

At the end the participants filled in the post-test, which further strengthened the their knowledge on this topic.