Minister of Justice Explained How Illegal Property Will Be Confiscated. The Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan commented on the initiative of confiscation of property without conviction. He noted that the draft law is ready, and is undergoing an international review. An interim opinion has already been received from the Council of Europe. The government is seeking the opinion of other international partners.

In response to the question on how eventually it will be proven that the person got the property illegally the minister said the mechanisms are embedded in the law. Badasyan said they are currently looking at the issue of authorized body. “The decision will be made based on a court verdict, the court has not been selected yet.

New Anti-Corruption Strategy for Armenia. According to news.am, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia has put into circulation a revised version of the government’s draft decision on approving the 2019-2022 action plan for anticorruption strategy and its implementation. Under the draft, the three main directions will be the prevention of corruption, the investigating of corruption crimes, and anticorruption education and awareness.

PACE monitors welcome the launch of reforms and call for concrete results. “The Armenian authorities are acutely aware of the extremely high expectations of the population for change. It is therefore important that the reforms now being formulated lead to concrete and tangible results,” said the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Armenia, Yuliya Lovochkina (Ukraine, SOC) and Andrej Šircelj (Slovenia, EPP/CD), following a visit to Yerevan from 12 to 14 March 2019. “We welcome the many major reforms being prepared, concerning the independence of the judiciary, the adoption of a new criminal policy and the creation of institutions specifically dedicated to fighting corruption and discrimination, and equally welcome the stated intention to develop these policies in an inclusive manner,” they said.

Transparency International recommends immediate revision of election procedure of members of the Corruption Prevention Centre. Transparency International’s Anti-Corruption Centre has submitted recommendations to the Parliament of Armenia and the Government aimed at carrying out an effective fight against corruption. The representative of the Centre stressed that the fight against corruption should be systematic and encompass all sectors. However, in order to make it effective, it is required to initiate studies of corruption risks and envisage preventive actions in all public administration bodies. The Centre also recommended immediate revision of the procedure for electing members of the Corruption Prevention Commission.

Statement on Armenia’s draft Anticorruption Strategy and the Implementation Action Plan for 2019-2022. The Draft Anti-corruption Strategy of the Republic of Armenia and its Implementation Action Plan 2019-2022 was posted on the unified website of the Ministry of Justice for publication of draft legal acts on 19 December 2018. Transparency International Armenia made a number of comments and stated that the development process of the draft document, as well as its structure and content, are of great concern.

Armenia’s draft 2019-2022 anti-corruption strategy under discussion. The draft strategy prepared by the civil society organisations indicates the main anti-corruption policy directions that shall be the baseline for conducting Armenia’s fight against corruption. According to Karen Zadoyan, coordinator of anti-corruption coalition secretariat of civil society organisations, the draft strategy is being discussed with representatives of different organisations and state officials. Deputy Justice Minister Suren Krmoyan, said that the strategy is innovative and aims to improve Armenia’s position in Transparency International’s ranking by 15 points.

Government of Armenia adopts the Fourth Action Plan of Open Government Partnership Initiative. The Action Plan for 2018-2020 was approved on 23 November 2018. The Plan includes actions in such areas as open and public beneficial ownership register, improving electronic system of declarations of assets, income and affiliated persons of high-ranking officials through “open data” declarations, and strengthening publicity, transparency and participation at the local level.

Criminal investigations of corruption more than doubled. According to the report issued by Prosecutor General’s Office, the number of corruption investigations launched by law enforcement agencies in the country during the first half of 2018 is more than double the number of the cases launched in the first half of 2017. 786 cases were initiated in the first half of 2018, of which 579 resulted in criminal cases.

PM Pashinyan assures fight against corruption is meant to improve investment environment. During the last months, Armenia carried out actions in the fight against corruption aimed at improving the investment environment, which resulted in the improvement of economic indexes, said Prime Minister Pashinyan at the National Assembly in response to a question by an MP from the Republican Party of Armenia. Referring to the outflow of assets, Nikol Pashinyan said, “Unfortunately, a number of individuals linked with your faction have decided to take out their money from Armenia, as a result of which we have the numbers you indicated. But I assure, all those sums will be discovered and returned to Armenia”.

EU ambassador: New Armenia government takes the fight against corruption seriously. Referring to recent arrests for corruption, the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski noted the importance of the fact that the new Armenian government declared the fight against corruption one of its priorities. And the message that the Armenian authorities take the fight against corruption seriously was clearly voiced in Brussels at the first meeting of the Armenia-EU Partnership Council, as well as during other meetings of the Armenian Foreign Minister in Brussels, the ambassador said. In addition, as noted by the EU diplomat, it is important that the new government wants anti-corruption campaign to continue in accordance with the law, within the framework of current legislation and in conditions of full transparency.