YEREVAN. – Corruption in Armenia is at a level that it has become a serious challenge due to lack of resources, and this can lead to the loss of statehood.

Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center in Armenia, told the abovementioned to reporters, and within the framework of Friday’s conference on anticorruption.

Reflecting on Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan’s statement on the fight against corruption, he noted that the remarks have left a double impression on him.

“On the one hand, apparently, there is the awareness that if it continues like this, we could lose our statehood,” Hoktanyan noted. “[But] at the same time, I didn’t understand what the need to declare this was.”

The Transparency International official expressed concern that such statements again will remain on paper.

“This is a very difficult step from the viewpoint that a serious political will is needed in this matter,” he added.

Reflecting on other countries’ respective track-record, Varuzhan Hoktanyan noted that some countries started to realize at some point that this cannot go on like this, and the very same “godfathers” of corruption started to implement appropriate changes.

“I am guided by certain steps, and I don’t see these steps,” he stated. “In Armenia’s case, monopolies are in the basis, roots of corruption, and from which the monopolization of the political field also stems. This is a fusion of the political and business elites, and the lack of balance between the different branches of power.”