Zakarian: Control Chamber sent 30 cases to Prosecutor’s Office

Chairman of the RA Control Chamber Ishkhan Zakarian made a final speech in the National Assembly of Armenia today. In his speech, he addressed all the comments of parliamentary deputies regarding the 2012 report of the Control Chamber.

In his words, the Control Chamber clearly states that anticompetitive, nontransparent, and nonpublic procurement procedures are still revealed during checks. It does not mean that such phenomena are widespread. In the words of Zakarian, many ministers are interested in eliminating the shortcomings.

“We say that there are serious problems in the sphere of procurement. I had a meeting with the prime minister on Friday in connection with problems in the process of purchases. I cannot say today that everything has been rectified, but I cannot say either that everything is very bad,” Zakarian noted. According to him, the Control Chamber is in favor of legislative amendments and believes that there will be no problem if the Control Chamber’s functions are extended.

Ishkhan Zakarian said the relations between the Control Chamber and the Armenian government are relations of two partners, with the Control Chamber constantly presenting its proposals to the government.

Zakarian reminded those present that on the Armenian president’s instructions, the Control Chamber controls three spheres – construction, procurement, and the social sphere. He said the problems were dealt with in the social sphere, and now they want to improve the situation in the two other spheres as well. “Yet the Control Chamber will not be able to do it alone. The parliament should help and I am ready to start joint solution of problems,” Zakarian stated.

Zakarain officially declared that he had not made any statement about the prosecutor’s office. He refuted the claims of HAK faction deputy Gagik Jangirian.

Zakarian said that 30 cases have been sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office in recent years and criminal cases were opened based on their materials. “Why doesn’t the Control Chamber send cases to the Prosecutor’s Office anymore? The Council of the Control Chamber takes a decision about sending a case to the Prosecutor’s Office. Let nobody doubt that we will henceforth send more cases to the prosecutor’s office. It is time to show a stricter approach to persons and organizations which have an erroneous idea about use of state budget resources,” Zakarian said in conclusion.