Heriknaz Tigranyan, the NA Candidate for the Competition Council being formed for the election of the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee, was illegally included in the Competition Council: Statement

According to the RA Law on the Anti-Corruption Committee, a Competition Council is formed for the election of the candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee. The Competition Council is composed of candidates nominated by the Government, the Council of the National Assembly, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Prosecutor General, the Human Rights Defender (each of them nominates one candidate), and two representatives of civil society.

Pursuant to Article 18 (3) of the same law, (…) any person with no party affiliation, (…) with the exception of a civil society representative, may be appointed member of the Council .

On 29 June, 2021, by the decision of the RA National Assembly Council, Heriknaz Tigranyan, MP of the ruling “My Step” faction of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation, was appointed a member of the Competition Council formed for the election of candidates for the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee. The latter was also a former employee of the “Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center” NGO, and currently a member of that structure.

According to the electoral list of the “Civil Contract” Party published on the official website of the Central Electoral Commission (see number 18), Heriknaz Tigranyan’s party affiliation is mentioned the “Civil Contract”. That is, a representative of the NA was involved in the Competition Council , to whom the legislative restriction on party affiliation does not apply. She is a party member: The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenian strongly condemns this illegal appointment and reaffirms its position that the anti-corruption struggle in Armenia has failed and that personal and corporate interests are actually served under the guise of that struggle. The Coalition also addresses the NA deputies with the question whether the latter were informed about this requirement of the law and deliberately made an illegal decision, or due to ignorance they were misled and became part of the illegal process through negligence. The Iravaban.net news website conducted investigation on the issue as well.

The Coalition warned about the possibility of illegal formation of the Competition Council and the conflict of interests in its statement of 9 June, 2021. Therefore, the Coalition also reaffirms the position that this unfounded haste raises doubts regarding to the conditions under which the competition is organized. There is a reasonable suspicion that its purpose is formed by the Anti-Corruption Committee by the current power of the National Assembly with the participation of the National Assembly of seventh convocation.

It is also obvious that the non-governmental organizations affiliated with the ruling political force also support the realization of this goal. In particular, two of the other members of the Competition Council are representatives of civil society organizations. These organizations are Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center NGO and “Union of Informed Citizens” Consulting NGO. It should be noted that the decisions on the inclusion of these two structures are not a surprise at all. They received large grants from the government without a competition, illegally joined the Anti-Corruption Policy Council chaired by the Prime Minister, and with their participation they have turned the Council illegitimate and formal in nature on the part of CSOs.

The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia strongly condemns the “anti-corruption struggle” through illegal actions and calls on decision-makers to be guided by public interest rather than personal and corporate interests. The Coalition calls for the invalidation of the NA Council Decision AJKHO-041-A of 29 June, 2021, as it contradicts a normative legal act with a higher legal force, which is the Law on the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Note: The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia was founded on 28 November 2014 in Yerevan within the framework of the EU-funded “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” project. The Coalition currently has 71 civil society organizations, and the secretariat is run by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.

Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia

02 July, 2021