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On October 16-20, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Fellow and the Project Manager of the "Introduction of the institute of beneficial ownership in RA with the aim of combatting corruption" Project, Mariam Zadoyan has participated in a study tour in Chisinau, Moldova.
Moldova and Armenia both face similar corruption risks in the business sector, mainly monopolies and oligopolies, as well as in the public procurement sector.
The aim of the study tour was establishing new business contacts, mapping of the stakeholders and getting cognizant with the legislation and practice on combating corruption in private sector, including experience exchange on the mechanisms of beneficial ownership and anti-corruption compliance and etc.
The hosting organization was the “Center for policy and Reform” NGO which has an anti-corruption direction. During the study tour, Mariam Zadoyan had also meetings with different stakeholder, including “Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance” NGO, “Moldovan Bar Young Lawyers Association”, NGO, “Juridice Moldova” law firm, Independent Procurement Expert and Project Coordinator from Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, Serghei Merjan and Independent Investigative Journalist Djein Vacari. Contacts have been made also with Business Membership Organizations such as the Foreign Small Enterprise Alliance and Legal Resources Centre from Moldova.
Concerning the beneficial ownership, Moldovan organizations are imposed with a legal obligation to provide information on their beneficial owners during the registration, however there is no registry of beneficial owners as such. Concerning the anti-corruption compliance mechanisms, Moldova has foreseen criminal liability for legal persons for several offences, however, anti-corruption compliance programs as such are not foreseen as a basis for exempting the criminal liability and only some franchised companies have such programs in place.
Mariam's Project is aimed at combating corruption, in particular, the introduction of the Register of Beneficial Owners in Armenia aimed at overcoming business and political cohesion. Within the framework of the program, among other activities, educational visits will be conducted to study the best international practices, as well as seminars for their ontroduction in Armenia, information sessions and seminar in public-private partnership format, as a result of which an appropriate anti-corruption policy will be presented to the Government of Armenia.
More about Mariam Zadoyan’s Fellowship program, https://fellows.eapcivilsociety.eu/zadoyan-mariam/
