Ethics Committee for officials and deputies will be created in Armenia

Armenian parliamentarians approved a legislative initiative of forming an Ethics Committee for officials and deputies in first reading. The Committee will control interrelations between the officials and deputies and correspondence between real officials' income and declarations submitted by them. 

The Minister of Justice of Armenia Grair Tovmasyan said that the Committee would have an anti-corruption strategy. According to the Minister, this institution will control about 600 high-ranking persons, including the President, Chairman and the deputies of the Parliament, Prime Minister, the judges and Head of Central Bank. 

Income statements will also be submitted by members of the family living together with the person but according to the Minister, this circle may be broadened dependent on how efficient the law will work. 

According to Tovmasyan, the Committee will monitor "under a microscope" the income an official has during a year and the official's property by the end of the year. In case if these figures do not correlate the official will have to explain the reason publically, "Mediamax" reports.

The Committee will consist of five members. The members of the Committee will be appointed for a six-year term by the President of the country on the proposal of high-ranking persons: Prime Minister, Chairman of the Parliament, Chairman of the Constitutional Court, "Novosti Armenia" reports.

"Rotation of the members of the Committee will be held every two years. It will be an independent Committee, not subordinate to the President but financed by the Administration of Head of the state", Tovmasyan said. 

The project of amendments also stipulates creation of a register which in its turn will inspect authenticity of the data submitted by officials.

"This will become a "straightjacket" for many persons who on familiarizing themselves with stipulated extent of publicity will not strive for holding the offices they wish to get today", IA "Novosti Armenia" quotes Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan. 

ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" voted against the project, the rest of the groups supported the initiative.