Major witnesses under corruption cases, even suspects and accused-on-trial have left the territory of Armenia, and as a result, the investigation of those cases is in a deadlock or there is a threat of deadlock. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated during a consultation that he held today.

“One of the main reasons for this is that the top officials in the law-enforcement system were literally traitors who had other calculations and other assignments under the veil of the fight against corruption. However, what I want to know is can we guarantee that the law-enforcement authorities are performing their functions in the fight against corruption. Unfortunately, I can’t give an affirmative answer,” Pashinyan said and added that the time has come to conduct an in-depth analysis of the results that Armenia has recorded in the fight against corruption and particularly in terms of the return of funds stolen from the state and restoration of the damages over the past one-and-a-half years.

“There has never been a real reason for corruption in Armenia, and this means that there can’t be a beneficial and objective comparison. Armenia has suffered billions of dollars in damages caused by the corrupt activities of top officials, and as the leader of Armenia, I have received the mandate from the people to fulfill the promises to retrieve those funds. Thus, I expect the law-enforcement authorities to meet our people’s just expectation through the engagement of the entire potential of investigators and operational intelligence officers,” he emphasized.