Control Chamber responds to prime minister’s statements

The Control Chamber of Armenia has responded to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s statements, thanking him for his remarks made at the government session today regarding the 2012 report of the Control Chamber.

“The Armenian government has constantly attached importance to work done by the Control Chamber. When speaking about the problems in Armenia’s construction and procurement spheres, the chairman of the Control Chamber said in the parliament that approximately 701 billion AMD of 2013 state budget expenditures is related to procurement and construction sectors that are in the “risk zone”. It does not mean embezzlement of 700 billion AMD.

We also agree with the prime minister’s idea that “the Control Chamber has no right to make political statements, but it must present only and only conclusions of experts, while political assessments shall be given by the parliament and the government. In this connection we consider it necessary to quote part of the final speech of the Control Chamber’s chairman in the National Assembly on June 18, 2013: “Of course, I will refrain from any assessments having a political connotation because I said that a report of the Control Chamber should not be moved to a political field, and in this sense I consider some terms, which were voiced by several deputies and have nothing to do with our report, as inadmissible and even strange,” the statement of the Control Chamber reads.

The statement also says that there are neither political assessments nor a “widespread plunder” wording in the report of the Control Chamber.

We would remind you that at today’s session of the government, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that the facts about violations and misuses revealed by the Control Chamber should be submitted to law enforcement agencies. He also said that the RA Control Chamber is a specialized body and should refrain from political assessments. “The parliament and the government should give political assessments,” he noted.

He disagreed with the opinion that 70% of the state budget is in the risk zone. The prime minister told government members to respond to all accusations: either to refute the accusations, or to prepare and send documents to the prosecutor’s office, or to accept the accusations and be punished.