The Anti-Corruption Policy Council today held a session chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, as reported the Government of Armenia.

The first item on the agenda was the report on the actions implemented in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020 under the Anti-Corruption Strategy of Armenia and the 2019-22 Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy. Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan stated that the report on implementation of the actions in 2019 was posted on the official website of the Ministry of Justice in February 2020 and stated the establishment of a Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the regulations for integrity checks of judges of the Constitutional Court, candidate members of the Supreme Judicial Council and persons to be appointed to state positions, as well as establishment of mechanisms for civil forfeiture of illegal assets as major achievements.

The Prime Minister asked about the process of studying integrity within the scope of introduction of mechanisms for civil forfeiture of illegal assets, and in response, Chairperson of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption Haikuhi Harutyunyan stated that in June 2020, based on the methodology of integrity, the Commission checked the integrity of the prosecutors nominated to perform functions for civil forfeiture of illegal assets and the deputy of the Prosecutor General nominated to coordinate the sphere of civil forfeiture of illegal assets.

Pashinyan stated that integrity checks of persons to be appointed to state positions are being held for the first time in Armenia and serve as a key component for the fight against corruption.

Afterwards, Badasyan provided details about the package of laws for improvement of the system of declaration of assets, incomes and interests and introduction of the system of declaration of expenses. During an exchange of ideas, the proposed regulations were considered, and the members of the Council shared their comments on the types and amounts of expenses, etc.

During the session, coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO Daniel Ioannisyan touched upon the prevention of political corruption, including the transparency of funding for political and journalistic activities. In the context of financial transparency and accountability, importance was attached to the introduction of mechanisms for revelation of real owners. The government and representatives of the National Assembly touched upon the activities being carried out within the scope of the aforementioned reforms.

Proposals to touch upon reforms in public governance, anti-corruption mechanisms in the investment policy and other topics were also presented during the session.