Artak Zeynalyan presents in Italy the activities aimed at combating corruption

On 12 November, in Rome, the capital of the Italian Republic, Acting Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan participated in the conference on “Developing Anti-Corruption Strategies in the Digital Age: Recent Trends and the Best Practices within the Framework of the OSCE”.

Artak Zeynalyan expressed gratitude to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe for inviting the Armenian delegation to the conference and to the Italian Republic for the cordial reception.

The Acting Minister touched upon the events that took place in Armenia in the spring of 2018 and noted that the Armenian people exercised their direct right to power and fulfilled their dream of having a better country through the velvet, peaceful and non-violent revolution.

Talking about the activities being carried out in the anti-corruption sector in Armenia, Artak Zeynalyan noted that the fight against corruption in Armenia has reached a new level and has become more goal-oriented and effective.

In this context, he emphasised that the progress in the anti-corruption sector was mainly conditioned by the adoption of laws that meet international standards and the effective application of those laws. The Acting Minister particularly touched upon the criminalisation of illicit enrichment, the creation of a whistleblowing system for the revelation of corruption crimes, the reform of the institution of declaration and the ongoing introduction of the institution of real owners in the procurement sector and of e-democracy tools. As for the latter, Artak Zeynalyan singled out the unified website for draft legal acts (www.e-draft.am), the on-line hotline (www.e-hotline.am), the unified portal for online requests (www.e-request.am), the unified electronic register for licences (www.e-license.am) — created by the Ministry of Justice — and more.

According to the Acting Minister, in the fight against corruption, Armenia is focused not only on the development of legal and strategic actions, but also on the application of the systems of institutional and coercive measures. In this regard, Artak Zeynalyan noted that the level of disclosure of corruption crimes and schemes had considerably risen over the past three months.

The Acting Minister also touched upon the new Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2019-2022, which is currently being developed, and noted that the preventive section of the Strategy would concern the fight against corruption through innovative methods.

At the end of his speech, Artak Zeynalyan reaffirmed the willingness and intolerance of the Government of the Republic of Armenia with regard to the fight against corruption and noted that the co-operation with the OSCE would help Armenia to assess the progress in the fight against corruption, identify the weak points and plan the future actions in this sector.