From the way they work, it would appear that the Ethics Committee really isn’t interested in examining these disclosures for inaccuracies and violations. The disclosure we were provided seems to have not been checked beforehand as to whether it was complete or not.
Arsenyan, an MP since 2003, declared 822.7 million AMD in revenues last year, of which a whopping 722.4 million was in the form of loans. 97 million was from dividends and a mere 3.1 million from his salary as a legislator.
Mrs. Tsarukyan declared cash holdings of 21.7 million AMD and revenues of 11.8 billion AMD. A small percentage of this is her salary (560,000 AMD) and the rest is declared as a gift from her husband.
In the town of Etchmiadzin, there are two candidates – current Mayor Karen Grigoryan, the son of MP Manvel Grigoryan, and Armineh Hovhannisyan, better known to the public as the chief of staff for Gortzik Ltd.
Arayik Grigoryan is one of the many MPs in the National Assembly who’s never made a speech from the podium during his time in office.
The former small time mayor owns 16 various buildings and 13 plots of land in Talin. For the fiscal year Marc 1, 2011 to March 1, 2012, Mnatsakanyan declared cash holdings of 75 million AMD.
Hakob Hakobyan is the only Armenian National Assembly MP that has 28 buildings and structures registered to his name.
In terms of revenue, Tovmasyan declared 7.492 million AMD of which 3.7 million was in the form of wages. Another 3 million was reported as “other income”.
Hrachya Rostomyan, the newly appointed RA Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs possesses a number of foreign currency bank accounts.
Sayid Avdalyan is determined to break a few stereotypes about the new generation of Yezidis in Armenia. He is pursuing a Masters in International Relations at Yerevan State University and also serves as President of the Association of Yezidi Youth in Armenia.
Simon became teary eyed when he spoke about the plight of the land and the villagers who work it. He made an open plea to the government to regard the land and the village farmers as the salt of the earth and “national treasures”, since they keep the country afloat.
Ejmiatzin and surrounding villages have long been considered a de facto fiefdom of Grigorian and another top army general, Seyran Saroyan. They both have extensive business interests in the Ejmiatzin area and other parts of Armenia.
Artak Gevorgyan, the son of Republican Party MP Nahapet Gevorgyan, was arrested by police early this morning on charges of hijacking a car at gunpoint after forcing the driver and a passenger to get out.
Republican Party MP Vahe Hakobyan only trails Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan in terms personal wealth in Armenia’s legislature.
In 2011, Haroutyunyan only reported his 3,652,680 AMD salary as income, while his cash deposits at the end of the year totalled 5 million. He started the year with 3.5 million.
In 2011, Hovik Abrahamyan had total revenues of 43.6 million AMD; some 40 million from selling agricultural produce. The other 3.6 million was his salary. His cash assets are nothing to sneeze about either – AMD 290 million and $2 million.
In 2011, his income was 102 million of which 2.9 million was his salary. His stock dividends amounted to 65 million and interest income was some 18.5 million. The balance was in the form of rental payments.
Badalyan also blames the army for letting the bodyguards of various oligarchs get so powerful.
In 2005, when Mkrtoumyan was the president of the Court of Cassation’s Chamber of Civil and Economic Affairs, he declared revenues of 3.729 million AMD – basically his wages.
In 2011, his assets soared to 278 million AMD and $2.9 million. His only income, however, was his 8.4 million AMD salary as the head tax honcho.
On a recent visit to the border village of Pshtavan a local shop-owner approached and asked, in all seriousness, how he could amass a large fortune quickly even though he owned no significant business operations.
28 year-old Vahe Grigoryan, an independent, won yesterday’s special election for mayor in the village of Griboyedov (Armavir Marz).
Prosperous Armenia Party MP Nayira Zohrabyan summed up her faction’s stance regarding the government’s five year plan of action by saying that if the votes garnered by the opposition in the recent parliamentary elections are added together then it becomes clear that there can be no talk of the people having confidence regarding the program.
The ARF MP pointed out that five of the six factions in the new parliament had declared that the recent elections were flawed and that four had declared outright violations. Despite this, said Roustamyan, the government has noted the results in its program and based a government on the backs of the people.
Manoukyan minced no words when presenting a number of demographic statistics on emigration and legislative initiatives that called into question certain pronouncements made by PM Sargsyan.
The HAK parliamentary leader said it is impossible to have faith in a government whose policies have led to an artificial appreciation of the AMD propped up by the Central Bank infusing $1 billion in reserves and the growth of the national debt.
Aram Manoukyan, head of the HAK parliamentary faction, appeared to be in a fighting mood today as he peppered PM Sargsyan with questions regarding the government’s past track record and upcoming five year strategy plan.
“He’s very angry about what happened. The people responsible have been dismissed from their jobs. Other than that, Hayrapetyan will let the law take its course,” said Aleksanyan.
The PM also underlined the government’s push to raise the level of accountability of law enforcement regarding the rights of citizens and promised that violators would be punished.
He’s declared 35 million AMD and $859,000 in cash as of the end of 2011. This is in addition to his 3,334,080 AMD salary and the 211,000 AMD in speaking fees.
This evening President Serzh Sargsyan will chair meeting of the executive board of the Republican Party of Armenia. It is assumed that they will discuss the new make-up of the government.
14 year-old Gohar, from Hovtamech village, has never been to school and remains a virtual prisoner in her own home. The culprits are the girl’s own parents.
Based on financial disclosures, it appears that Armenia’s First Lady Rita Sargsyan has more personal wealth than her husband President Serzh Sargsyan.
The youngest of the candidates is Vahe Grigoryan. He turned 28 today. Vahe Grigoryan told Hetq that he’s not in the running just for the “heck of it”, otherwise anyone could just wake-up one morning and nominate themselves as a candidate.
Today staff members of the Police Department’s Main Examination Board have completed an audit of documents seized from the Aramous Municipality in Kotayk Marz. Mayor Hrayr Nikoghosyan told Hetq that all his papers had been taken ad that all he has left in his office is the community’s “official seal".
I recently visited his operation and Hovhannes said he already had a crop of cucumbers for sale but the market price was ridiculously low. It’s so low that he can’t even pay for the cost of the seed.
The two officials had tendered their resignations beforehand, stating that as members of the BHK (Prosperous Armenia Party) they could not, in good faith, continue at their posts.
Hovik Abrahamyan, who is returning as president of the RA National Assembly, is also bringing back some of his team who left with Abrahamyan when he resigned from the parliament to head the campaign headquarters of the ruling Republican Party.
Lilit the young Armenian girl suffering from cystic fibrosis who attracted worldwide attention due to the coverage of Hetq, will be celebrating Children’s Day in her new home.
“It would have to be a very contentious debate for things to get so out of hand. Nevertheless, during all my years in the parliament, such cases have been few and far between,” Sahakyan said.
Aleksanyan told me that he had nothing to do with the recent collapse of the building’s roof.
102 MPs voted in favor of Abrahamyan and 4 against. Four votes were disqualified.
Also in attendance were President Sargsyan and Catholicos Garegin II. Notably absent were the newly elected MP’s from HAK (Armenian National Congress) and the Heritage Party.
Abrahamyan's two deputies are also from the ruling Republican Party – Edward Sharmazanov, who is currently serving as Deputy President, and a new face – Hermineh Naghdalyan.
She noted that if all Armenia’s citizens took pride in their work, many things would change in the country. The singer added that it wasn’t shameful to work for a small pay check but that it was a shame not to work.
Reports from Etchmiadzin allege that an AreximBank employee got into a shouting match with a customer and then stabbed the man with a knife.
But the village has one proud boast under its belt – it’s where Catholicos Garegin II was born and where his brother Gevorg Nersisyan serves as mayor.
“The country has possibilities. Our nature is good, the water, and the light and warmth given by God. What’s missing? We’re a people who like to work. They just have to create some incentives for us. I really don’t see the difficulty of governing this country,” Iskhan said.
Samvel Aleksanyan, the businessman/MP who was re-elected to the Armenian parliament on May 6, told Hetq that he will be rewarding the best staffers in his campaign headquarters with awards of $20,000 and holidays in Dubai.
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