ArmInfo. On July 3, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, a meeting of the Council on Anti-Corruption Policy was held in the Government.
During the meeting, the Anti-Corruption Strategy of the Republic of Armenia and its implementation for 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 was presented. So, in 2019, the commission established regulations for checking the integrity of candidates for judges, judges of the Constitutional Court, candidates for membership of the Constitutional Court, persons subject to appointment to public office, as well as other persons established by law, an appropriate legislative framework has been formed, and its process is currently underway application. The stage has already been completed for the election of candidates for prosecutors, who will undergo retraining at the Academy of Justice from next week, and the corresponding unit of the Prosecutor General's Office will already be operational this September.
In terms of criminalizing corruption, a provision was made for mechanisms for the criminal liability of legal entities in draft new codes of criminal and criminal proceedings. The draft law on the Anti-Corruption Committee will be submitted to the Prime Minister's Office next week, and the law on anti-corruption courts is discussed with interested international organizations, after which it will be submitted for public discussion.
The Prime Minister inquired about the process of studying integrity in the implementation of confiscation mechanisms for property of illegal origin. In June, on the basis of the integrity methodology, the commission checked the integrity of prosecutors who are responsible for the recovery of property of illegal origin and the persons included in the lists of candidates for the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, coordinating this area, and presented a conclusion on the integrity of 26 candidates, 2 of which were negative, 11 - with positive reservations, and 13 - positive. According to the leaders of interested structures, the process was effective, while work is ongoing to improve it.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the anti-corruption direction reflects the political will of the government, and all necessary funds will be provided for the full implementation of the measures envisaged.
Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan presented details about the legislative package on improving the system of declaring property, income, and introducing a system of declaration of expenses. In particular, it is proposed to introduce the institution of declaring expenses, establish the property to be declared that is actually owned by the declarant, form a mechanism for controlling corruption risks after the termination of the official duties of the declarant, reduce the monetary threshold of precious property, and expand the circle of declarants.
During the exchange of views on the proposed regulation, the members of the council presented their observations on the types of expenses, limits, money threshold of expensive property and other issues. The Prime Minister noted that the introduction of an effective declaration system is one of the important tools to ensure transparency and accountability, and it is necessary to consistently go forward this way. The meeting also presented proposals on public administration reforms, anti-corruption mechanisms of investment policy and other topics.