CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition on Illegal Election of Candidate to Member of Anti-Corruption Commission

Today, on 4 June, the RA NA discusses the issue of electing a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission. By the decision of the Competition Board, a former employee of the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center (TIAC) ​​(worked at TIAC in 2012-2019), TIAC member Ms Tatevik Barseghyan was nominated as a candidate for the Commission.

Two of the four members of the Competition Board are affiliated with the TIAC and the candidate. In particular, Heriknaz Tigranyan, a member of the Competition Board, was a former TIAC employee, a member of the Board, and currently a member of the organization, a member of the “My Step” faction of the National Assembly. The latter also presented Tatevk Barseghyan’s candidacy in the National Assembly today. The other member of the Competition Board is again a former TIAC employee, currently a member, Deputy Chief of Staff of the RA Prime Minister Liana Ghaltaghchyan. Heriknaz Tigranyan was nominated to the Competition Board by the RA NA, and Liana Ghaltaghchyan was nominated by the RA Government.

Thus, it is obvious that the two members of the Competition Board have a clear and unequivocal conflict of interest and affiliation with the candidate. However, ignoring this, these members of the Competition Board bypassed the well-known principles of anti-corruption and selected a candidate whose nomination merely makes this election unlawful and illegitimate.

Although the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center is a non-governmental organization, but its activities have raised reasonable doubts about its direct affiliation with the current political authorities and express a strong and group interest in the selection of a members for the Corruption Prevention Commission.

Moreover, Tatevik Barseghyan is the wife of Sos Avetisyan, a deputy of the “My Step” faction of the RA National Assembly. In these conditions, the NA “My Step” faction could have refrained from organizing a false competition and simply elected its preferred candidate as a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission, especially when the previous four members were appointed with the same “handwriting”.

The Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenian CSOs strongly condemns this vicious phenomenon and urges the National Assembly to cancel the illegal decision of the Competition Board and not to make another political appointment, which does not issue from the fight against corruption and does not meet such important criteria set out in the Jakarta Statement on the Principles for Anti-Corruption Agencies as: impartiality, neutrality, integrity and competence, independence and political neutrality.

Governing Board of the Anti-Corruption Coalition of the Civil Society Organizations of Armenia:

“04” June, 2021