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AMAZING SITUATION ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF AUDIT CHAMBER
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
11:59:54 - 15/12/2008
The recent activities of the Audit Chamber have surprised many. It is
difficult to imagine that it is possible in the public administration
of Armenia that major misuse of the state budget or illegal episodes
of cooperation between the state and the private sector are revealed.
Meanwhile, the body headed by Ishkhan Zakaryan has been dealing with
them for a long time now, and has revealed abuse of tens and hundreds
of millions of drams by government agencies in spending public money,
that is the money of tax payers.
In any normal country, the revelations made by the Audit Chamber
would result in serious consequences for someone. In other words,
when it were revealed that hundreds of millions of drams are misused
in the country, some high-ranking official, some government body
would already be giving explanations regarding that misuse, because
the process is underway, that is the process of revelations or the
so-called revelations is underway for several months now, and involves
different spheres of public administration.
Moreover, the office of prosecutor general should have already spelled
out its stance, even if the Audit Chamber has not sent the materials
connected with the audit to the office of prosecutor general.
The office of prosecutor general should be proactive, invite the
chair of the Audit Chamber , ask him to hand over the materials,
or maybe demand the materials because the Audit Chamber may suddenly
have no time to extend the results of the audit which are evidence
to misuse to the office of prosecutor general.
Already legal proceedings should have been launched, and the public
should already been informed, which would be the best confirmation of
Serge Sargsyan's statement that battle on corruption undergoes change,
and is going to be tougher.
Meanwhile, there happens only that the Audit Chamber audits the
activities, expenditures of one government agency or another, then
Ishkhan Zakaryan holds a news conference and states that they have
revealed one abuse or another, then states to send some data to the
office of prosecutor general, and then everyone goes quiet or it turns
out that Ishkhan Zakaryan's audit was a retribution for dismissal
of his brother-in-law. Frankly speaking, the public does not care
for whom Ishkhan Zakaryan takes revenge, whether he takes revenge
or something else, or whether he takes revenge for him or carries
out someone's order, carries out someone's order or does his work,
why he does that, to reveal misuse or to enable the government to
pressure on one government official or another.
The public wants to know whether the revelations by the Audit Chamber
are true, whether hundreds of millions are lost in our country which
are allegedly spent for the society but in reality have enriched
several people.
The answer to this question is not given in any case. For already
a few months the Audit Chamber has been announcing about misuse,
wasted hundreds of millions, but nobody has been held accountable,
and on the other hand nobody has stated clearly and officially that
the Audit Chamber is lying, and there is no misuse at all. Maybe the
Audit Chamber is not lying but is incompetent and cannot distinguish
between misuse and use. However, there must be someone to present
the reality to the society, argue and prove or go all the way with
the revelations or reveal their correctness.
Since there is no real and tangible response, the society has every
reason to think that there is misuse, which is not new to the country,
and revelations viewed as a novelty are simply aimed to give advantage
to one over another in personal or political relations and use them
for their own rather than public purpose.
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
11:59:54 - 15/12/2008
The recent activities of the Audit Chamber have surprised many. It is
difficult to imagine that it is possible in the public administration
of Armenia that major misuse of the state budget or illegal episodes
of cooperation between the state and the private sector are revealed.
Meanwhile, the body headed by Ishkhan Zakaryan has been dealing with
them for a long time now, and has revealed abuse of tens and hundreds
of millions of drams by government agencies in spending public money,
that is the money of tax payers.
In any normal country, the revelations made by the Audit Chamber
would result in serious consequences for someone. In other words,
when it were revealed that hundreds of millions of drams are misused
in the country, some high-ranking official, some government body
would already be giving explanations regarding that misuse, because
the process is underway, that is the process of revelations or the
so-called revelations is underway for several months now, and involves
different spheres of public administration.
Moreover, the office of prosecutor general should have already spelled
out its stance, even if the Audit Chamber has not sent the materials
connected with the audit to the office of prosecutor general.
The office of prosecutor general should be proactive, invite the
chair of the Audit Chamber , ask him to hand over the materials,
or maybe demand the materials because the Audit Chamber may suddenly
have no time to extend the results of the audit which are evidence
to misuse to the office of prosecutor general.
Already legal proceedings should have been launched, and the public
should already been informed, which would be the best confirmation of
Serge Sargsyan's statement that battle on corruption undergoes change,
and is going to be tougher.
Meanwhile, there happens only that the Audit Chamber audits the
activities, expenditures of one government agency or another, then
Ishkhan Zakaryan holds a news conference and states that they have
revealed one abuse or another, then states to send some data to the
office of prosecutor general, and then everyone goes quiet or it turns
out that Ishkhan Zakaryan's audit was a retribution for dismissal
of his brother-in-law. Frankly speaking, the public does not care
for whom Ishkhan Zakaryan takes revenge, whether he takes revenge
or something else, or whether he takes revenge for him or carries
out someone's order, carries out someone's order or does his work,
why he does that, to reveal misuse or to enable the government to
pressure on one government official or another.
The public wants to know whether the revelations by the Audit Chamber
are true, whether hundreds of millions are lost in our country which
are allegedly spent for the society but in reality have enriched
several people.
The answer to this question is not given in any case. For already
a few months the Audit Chamber has been announcing about misuse,
wasted hundreds of millions, but nobody has been held accountable,
and on the other hand nobody has stated clearly and officially that
the Audit Chamber is lying, and there is no misuse at all. Maybe the
Audit Chamber is not lying but is incompetent and cannot distinguish
between misuse and use. However, there must be someone to present
the reality to the society, argue and prove or go all the way with
the revelations or reveal their correctness.
Since there is no real and tangible response, the society has every
reason to think that there is misuse, which is not new to the country,
and revelations viewed as a novelty are simply aimed to give advantage
to one over another in personal or political relations and use them
for their own rather than public purpose.