David Harutyunyan: If the son of an official is a successful  businessman, one should not make far-reaching conclusions from this

ArmInfo. "If the son of any of the officials is a successful businessman, we should not make far-reaching conclusions from this," Justice Minister David Harutyunyan told journalists on November 30 after meeting referring to corruption in the highest echelons of power.

According to David Harutyunyan, the fight against corruption is  clearly a priority for Armenia. In this connection, the Minister does  not agree with the statement that the public of the country does not  see any steps in this direction. "In order not to see these steps,  you just do not want to see them," he said. Only this year, as  Harutyunyan stressed, great work has been done in this direction. One  of the most important steps in this direction was the expansion of  the list of persons providing property declarations and arrived -  almost twice. "The analysis showed how the legislation can be  circumvented here - these are cash transactions that may seem legal,  but in fact they can become a base, in order to bypass the law," the  minister said. It is from these considerations, as the official  noted, restrictions were imposed on cash transactions. In addition,  as part of the fight against corruption, illegal enrichment has been  criminalized, relevant institutions have been introduced, which will  continue to develop in the coming year, creating a platform for  anonymous informants. "These institutional changes may not  immediately, but in the future, necessarily lead to serious results  in the prevention of corruption manifestations," the head of the  Ministry of Justice said. The second important direction, as David  Harutyunyan pointed out, is the restriction of communication between  those who provide services and receive them. In this direction,  serious steps have also been taken this year, and some of the powers  of state structures were delegated to the private sector, he noted.

At this stage, the Ministry of Justice is working on a third  direction - the interaction between the public and private sectors,  the so-called high-level corruption. This, according to the Minister,  will ensure transparency of the processes connected with the  implementation of programs based on budgetary financing. "We are  currently working out a legislative package regulating the conclusion  of such transactions in order to reduce corruption risks here," he  stressed.

At the same time, according to Harutyunyan, despite the current  legislative initiatives of the Armenian government, the legal norm  regulating the sphere will fully come into force after the creation  of an anti- corruption body - after April 2018. Already there is a  toolkit that will allow this structure to be familiarized with all  the necessary information stored in the State Revenue and State  Revenue Committee of legal entities and conduct its processing and  analysis of risks for the full implementation of the functions of the  anti-corruption body.

The Minister of Justice also touched on various business projects  involving the names of former high- ranking officials and their  affiliated persons, as well as the legislative principle that the law  does not have retroactive effect, thus legitimizing the funds of  those who previously used the gap in the law. "I understand that  there is a negative public attitude, especially taking into account  the economic development, but I can not agree with this  unequivocally, because if the son of any official is a successful  businessman, this should not make far-reaching conclusions and the  fact that the law has no retroactive force, is one of the foundations  of the generally accepted norms of democracy inherent in the entire  civilized community, and we are not entitled to speak against it,"  the minister concluded.