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TRAVELING UNDER THE RADAR
http://asbarez.com/123089/traveling-under-the-radar/
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Armenia's newly-appointed prime minister, Hovik Abrahamian with
President Serzh Sarkisian
A proposed bill seeks to classify travels of President, Prime Minister
and Parliament Speaker
The next time President Serzh Sarkisian decides to travel to South
Korea for "rejuvenation" therapy, he can do so without anyone's
knowledge. Ditto for the Prime Minister if he chooses to engage in
off-shore investments, as his predecessor was alleged to have been.
Ditto for the parliament speaker. All this thanks to new proposed
legislation pending in Armenia Parliament that would classify the
top leaders' travels as "top secret."
On Thursday, the parliament debated such a bill that was drafted by
Armenia's National Security Service and proposed for consideration
by the legislature. Under Armenian law, information related to state
officials' travel, whose expenses are covered by the state budget,
are public and accessible to the media.
The NSS deputy director Arzuman Harutinunyan presented the bill to
parliament and said that the current transparency provision of the law
undermines the security of Armenia's three senior most leaders. Of
course the ruling Republican Party of Armenia parliament members
advocated for the bill, among them the newly-minted Parliament Speaker
Galust Sahakian, who seeks to benefit from the provisions.
"I've looked up international legislation on such issues and even
checked the Stalin-era practices," said Naira Zohrabian of the
Prosperous Armenia Party as quoted by RFE/RL. "Even there I didn't
see any cases where expenditures of high-ranking state officials were
carried out secretly."
Other opposition lawmakers opined that this new bill gives these
leaders carte blanche to continue their corruption, but in secret.
Last year, disclosures suggested that the then Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan had spent an excess of $200,000 from the state budget to
hire private jets and other amenities for his travel.
So, instead of curbing such expenditures, this "new and improved"
government is opting to continue its lavish spending, and call it a
"state secret." So much for the promised change.
http://asbarez.com/123089/traveling-under-the-radar/
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Armenia's newly-appointed prime minister, Hovik Abrahamian with
President Serzh Sarkisian
A proposed bill seeks to classify travels of President, Prime Minister
and Parliament Speaker
The next time President Serzh Sarkisian decides to travel to South
Korea for "rejuvenation" therapy, he can do so without anyone's
knowledge. Ditto for the Prime Minister if he chooses to engage in
off-shore investments, as his predecessor was alleged to have been.
Ditto for the parliament speaker. All this thanks to new proposed
legislation pending in Armenia Parliament that would classify the
top leaders' travels as "top secret."
On Thursday, the parliament debated such a bill that was drafted by
Armenia's National Security Service and proposed for consideration
by the legislature. Under Armenian law, information related to state
officials' travel, whose expenses are covered by the state budget,
are public and accessible to the media.
The NSS deputy director Arzuman Harutinunyan presented the bill to
parliament and said that the current transparency provision of the law
undermines the security of Armenia's three senior most leaders. Of
course the ruling Republican Party of Armenia parliament members
advocated for the bill, among them the newly-minted Parliament Speaker
Galust Sahakian, who seeks to benefit from the provisions.
"I've looked up international legislation on such issues and even
checked the Stalin-era practices," said Naira Zohrabian of the
Prosperous Armenia Party as quoted by RFE/RL. "Even there I didn't
see any cases where expenditures of high-ranking state officials were
carried out secretly."
Other opposition lawmakers opined that this new bill gives these
leaders carte blanche to continue their corruption, but in secret.
Last year, disclosures suggested that the then Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan had spent an excess of $200,000 from the state budget to
hire private jets and other amenities for his travel.
So, instead of curbing such expenditures, this "new and improved"
government is opting to continue its lavish spending, and call it a
"state secret." So much for the promised change.