Over the past two years, Armenia has seen 72% growth of public procurement from one source. This is what second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan told economic reporters.

“Public procurement is the most tempting sector for corruption. How can citizens of Armenia believe that the government is fighting against corruption and that there is no systemic corruption when the government is making unplanned expenditures in the amount of $120,000,000 and in the form of bonuses?

The government justifies its actions by saying that it has retrieved $105,000,000. I tried to use my knowledge and understand where the money went, and I only saw that AMD 2-3,000,000,000 has been retrieved. Either the government is lying, or the funds haven’t been entered into the budget.

Every citizen will believe the funds have been pocketed so long as the government hasn’t shown where the funds went and what the money was spent on. If we add the amounts, the total is $225,000,000, and that’s just the amount declared by the government,” Kocharyan said, adding that there are many specialized organizations that understand the level of real corruption in this or that country only through indicators.

“I’m also surprised by the statements of several embassies and EU representatives. Don’t they see all this when they state that they are extremely content with the level of the fight against corruption in Armenia?” Kocharyan said.