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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.
Mr. Arkadi Sahakyan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia presented the challenges and prospects of the protection of the economic competition system in Armenia, as well as the corruption risks existing in that system. “When a business requires fair competition, first of all it expects, whether we have an adequate independent body that will foster effective competition in ensuring free competition. Our studies in our country have shown that there are still no tools available. The world experience shows that the economic competition authorities have a screening system that allows analysing risks and starting a fight. The other experience is to have a union for the protection of interests that can create filters and ensure transparency,” Arkady Sahakyan said. He particularly underlined that there are many issues related to public procurement.
Mr. David Bloss, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP-Caucasus), Regional Editor presented the role of investigative journalism in the prevention of corruption. “It’s difficult to define corruption even in the United States: which a group of country thinks is corruption, and another group considers it as international business. I think it is important to understand that each country will determine what corruption is, which is money laundering and what acceptable business is. The reason we write about these stories is that the government and society make that decision, is not our job to say what is good, and what is bad,” David Bloss said.
Ms Lilia Shushanyan, the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development of the Republic of Armenia, presented the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) as a tool for raising transparency in Armenia’s mining industry. “Why do we pay great attention to the mining industry today? Because, perhaps in contrast to other economic activities it has a peculiarity – natural resources, with which the business community deals, is the exclusive property of the state. By applying the right to freedom of information and other reasons our citizens and why not state officials at least have the right to be fully informed about what is happening in this sphere,” Lilia Shushanyan said.
Ms Mariam Zadoyan, Anti-Corruption Expert at the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, presented the Institute of Beneficial Ownership, Anti-Corruption Compliance Programmes and Corruption Prevention in Public Procurement.
Speaking about 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.
Referring to the Anti-Corruption Compliance Program, Mariam Zadoyan noted that in cooperation with the Center for International Private Enterprise, they are implementing the “Armenia: Promoting Anti-Corruption Conduct and Reforms” Project, which is aimed at introduction of the corporate culture in businesses, in particular to the implementation of compliance programs. Mariam noted that anti-corruption compliance is the company's acceptable values, relationships, practices, and corporate culture, which should guide the company while conducting its activity until achieving its ultimate goal. Mariam Zadoyan presented the components of the mentioned program to the participants, and then she spoke about the international commitments undertaken by Armenia, in particular, the criminal liability of legal entities. Mariam Zadoyan highlighted the importance of provision of liability as soon as possible, because, in her conviction, this institute is really profitable for clean and non-corrupt business representatives. In that context, she touched upon the Draft Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, which defines the criminal liability of the legal person, as well as the opportunity not to be held accountable if sufficient measures have been taken. She clarified that the speech is about the compliance programs.
Speaking about corruption risks in public procurement, Mariam Zadoyan mentioned that they are many, but the most common issue is the vicious practice of elaborating technical specifications of the procurement, defining specific criteria for a specific company. Mariam then presented a number of reports on the mentioned abuses received through the BizProtect Platform, operated by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, and offered as a solution standardization of technical specifications of some procurement.
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. At the final panel discussion on collective activities it was stated that the fight against corruption should be carried out not only by means of prevention of corruption in state bodies, but also in the private sector. And the introduction of the anti-corruption compliance programs by businesses as a mandatory component of anti-corruption education was highlighted once again.