Thursday, 20 June 2013
Any Disclosure Must Be Given Legal Response
Before announcing today’s Cabinet sitting agenda, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan made a statement regarding the Audit Chamber’s report.
«First political statement:
I am personally interested in that all those cases related to the findings provided by the Audit Chamber should be submitted to law enforcement agencies so that a legal response may be given to them. I will do everything to get response to any accusation made in public.
I fully agree with the position of the President of the National Assembly in that all those officials having embezzled public funds should be severely punished. This is my first statement.
Second, the Audit Chamber is a specialized entity, and I agree with the opinion of those MPs who insist on the need to clearly describe the procedure to be followed by the Audit Chamber in reporting to the National Assembly.
The Chamber is not supposed to act with political statements. The Audit Chamber is solely bound to provide a professional opinion, while it is up to the National Assembly and the executive authorities to act with political statements.
We heard the Ministers’ reports regarding the materials submitted by the Audit Chamber and thanked the Chamber for cooperation, but what happened in the National Assembly had nothing to do with the materials kept under the government’s strict control. The statement that 70% of the State budget is very risky and is spent in a corrupt manner concerns everyone in this room. 70% makes 700 billion drams, which means that corruption is widespread involving all the sectors of economy, and this is not true.
My third political statement is that I am hereby instructing you not to let any blame go unanswered. You must either reply to the accusations or refute them and prepare relevant materials for consideration by the Office of Prosecutor-General or you will have to admit that the accusations are correct and you should be held accountable for them.”
