Any government program proposing effective mechanisms to combat corruption is linked largely also to the existing perceptions in the society, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today, addressing the criminal proceeding against the third president.
At the expert discussion Fight Against Corruption for Sustainable Development Objectives, the premier also expressed his surprise at the public attitudes to the case indicting Serzh Sargsyan for the embezzleement of AMD 400 million (AMD 479 =USD 1) worth diesel fuel checks.
“I understand that certain people in Armenia envision fight against corruption as a kind of concert pre-ordered by a TV audience, i.e. – when the government or the prime minister submits a special bid to request a criminal case against Serzh Sargsyan for AMD 400 million. That logic prompts another question – why should [the entire process] be around AMD 400 if it might as well be in the framorks of AMD 4 billion,” he said in his speech, addressing the participants.
The prime minister highlighted the logical connection between the declared government objective and its public perceptions.
“That’s because corrupt thinking and corrupt perceptions are part of the same [logical change]; they have the same origin – linked to the perception and necessity of fight against corruption,” he said.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) accuses Serzh Sargsyan of organizing (in collaboration with other government officials) the embezzlement of AMD 489 in government funds allocated in 2013 for the provision of subsidized diesel fuel to farmers. As a measure of restraint, the former president has been required to submit a signature for not leaving the country in the inquest phase.