Մենք հոգում ենք Ձեր անանունունության մասին
Մենք հոգում ենք Ձեր անանունունության մասին
On April 17 and 18, the Government-Civil Society International Expert Conference: “RA Anti-Corruption Strategy under International Experience” was held in Yerevan. The Conference was organised by jointly the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, in the framework of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project supported by the European Union, and in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Centre for International Private Enterprises (CIPE).
More than two hundred participants from state and non-state, international and private organisations and mass media attended the conference.
H.E. Piotr Antoni Świtalski, Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia; Mr. Tigran Khachikyan, RA Deputy Minister of Justice; Mr. Artur Davtyan, RA Prosecutor General; Mr. Dmitry Mariyasin Resident Representative, UNDP Armenia; Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Coordinator of the Secretariat of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project Manager. International experts delivered reports at the conference, among them: Ms Aida Arutyunova, Programme Manager of UNDP’s Global Anti-Corruption Initiative, UNDP Singapore Global Centre; Mr. Anga Timilsina, UNDP’s Global Programme Adviser on Anti-Corruption, UNDP Singapore Global Centre; Mr. Shervin Majlessi, Deputy Coordinator, World Bank/UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (STAR); Mr. Yaroslavs Strelcenoks, Former Head of KNAB, Latvian Anti-Corruption Agency; Mr. David Bloss, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP-Caucasus), Regional Editor; Mr. Alex Petkov, Anti-Corruption Education Expert, UNODC Anti-Corruption Academic Initiative (ACAD), and others.
The Conference consisted of six series of thematic presentations related to Law Enforcement Activities in Fight against Corruption; Prevention of Corruption in Public and Private Sectors and Anti-corruption Education. The panel discussions were followed by Parallel Break-out Sessions on Anti-Corruption Strategy and Recommendations; Anti-Corruption Agency Model in Armenia; and Collective Actions of Stakeholders in fight against corruption in Armenia.
Mr. Yaroslavs Strelcenoks, Former Head of KNAB, Latvian Anti-Corruption Agency, facilitated the 5th discussion on Prevention of Corruption Risks emerging in the Private Sector.
Ms Mariam Zadoyan, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellow and Anti-Corruption Expert at the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, presented the Institute of Beneficial Ownership.
Mariam Zadoyan mentioned that the latter is a tool for promoting free economic competition and fight against monopolies. “The beneficial owners are the ultimate physical persons who stand behind the company and possess the real profits," she said. Mariam believes that in order to solve this problem it is necessary to establish a register of beneficial owners, where all companies will be obliged to disclose their beneficial owners. Mariam also presented Armenia's legal regulations and international commitments on the Institute of Beneficial Ownership, international best practices, as well as the range of issues that should become a subject of discussion during the establishment of such a register in Armenia. The most problematic is the issue of the method of verifying the reliability of the information provided.
Mariam Zadoyan added, that she currently implements the “Introduction of the Beneficial Ownership Institute in Armenia” project in the scope of the EU financed Eastern Partnership Civil Society fellowship. She presented the social advertising video prepared in the scope of the mentioned program, and added that the video was selected and included among the three best works of the International Youth Competition of Social Anti-Corruption Advertising “Together against Corruption!” organised among the 6 member states of the CIS Interstate Council on Combating Corruption. The video is available here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z83kgUJhuw&fbclid=IwAR2WZYKNXNBQSFKcPfskmkF1G0ONs5opTXm9UAGdXFJoHspzGtXeds5Z5OY
The presentations were followed by active discussions of the participants. It should also be noted that during the final panel discussion on anti-corruption strategy, a number of tools aimed at combating corruption in the private sector were pointed out, in particular, solutions for the introduction of the Institute of Beneficial Ownership, criminal liability of legal persons, the development of a new concept of the body for protection of economic competition, and so on.
Its noteworthy that the introduction of the instutute of beneficial ownership was recognized as one of the priority directions of the Strategy.
Her speach is available here in Armenian: https://youtu.be/L8Xcyol7RJM
The article is prepared in the frameworks of the project “Introduction of the institute of beneficial ownership in RA with the aim of combatting corruption” implemented under an Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellowship provided by EU financed “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility” Project, carried out by a consortium headed by GDSI Limited.
The content of the article is the sole responsibility of the author, and neither the European Union nor the implementing consortium of the “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility” do not bear any responsibility for it.
Zakar Iskandaryan,
Mariam Zadoyan
