Government making consistent efforts to combat corruption - Karen Karapetyan

Deputy Minister of Justice Karen Karapetyan delivered a speech at the 4^th anniversary of the formation of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) and congratulated the employees on the occasion.

The Deputy Minister noted that in 2018 the Government adopted the unwavering fight against corruption as one of the basic and overriding directions of its policy which has been continuously been enshrined by the Action Plans of the Government and its concept papers on transformation. The Government has made consistent efforts for the formation, functioning of the Commission as a specialised autonomous body for corruption prevention vested with the relevant guarantees for independence and the ongoing strengthening of the institutional capabilities of the Commission, as well as for development and modernisation of the tools for prevention.

As a result of the legislative reforms made in 2019-2022, the framework and instrumentation of the CPC were significantly expanded, and they were continuously brought into line with the international standards. Examining integrity, ensuring implementation of incompatibility requirements and other restrictions, adopting standard codes of conduct, overseeing record-registration and handling of gifts, overseeing the ongoing fiscal activities of political parties and a number of other functions, were reserved for the Commission.

The activities of the Commission over the past four years and its ongoing development have already shown tangible results. The Commission has also been highly appreciated by our international partners, particularly within the scope of the CoE and its monitoring bodies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as within the scope of the review mechanism of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Due to the institutional development of the CPC and the consistent efforts of the Commission, Armenia has also made progress in international rankings, the most important of which were the implementation of Recommendations within the framework of the 4^th Evaluation Round of the CoE Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the implementation of the Recommendations with respect to conflict of interests, incompatibility requirements and other mechanisms for restrictions, as well as the implementation of the Recommendations for introduction of the system of Codes of Conduct in a public service.

At the end of his speech, Karen Karapetyan assured that these ongoing reforms will help to record more visible results in the unwavering fight against corruption that has been adopted and will help to shape a culture of zero tolerance of corruption in society.