All Employees Awarded: Response from the Syunik Regional Administration

The Syunik Regional Administration has responded to the publication stating that "the Syunik governor has rewarded himself twice in one day with monetary awards."

"Regarding the publication dated January 20, 2019, on www.asparez.am and subsequently circulated on other websites, which triggered various interpretations about 'the Syunik governor rewarding himself twice in one day,' we would like to inform those who love sensational headlines the following:

The governor of Syunik did not reward himself twice, but rather rewarded the employees of the regional administration based on two articles, and not 22 people, but rather all employees of the Syunik Regional Administration received a reward equally, amounting to 67.16 percent of their official salary scale.

We would like to inform those referring directly to the decisions published on the official website of the administration and those who are unaware that the authority to apply rewards belongs to the person entitled to appoint to that position; thus, 22 people were rewarded by the governor's order, while the others were awarded by the instruction of the chief secretary of the regional administration.

This process is within the limits of legality and is applied at the end of each year based on the savings obtained from the regional administration's expenditures.

Moreover, the Syunik Regional Administration returned 8.8 million drams from its savings to the Republic of Armenia's state budget in 2018...

Note: Hunan Poghosyan has sent New Year gifts for children from various organizations in the region using his awarded funds..." the response from the regional administration states.

It should be noted that aside from the Syunik governor, other governors have also received awards by their own orders, including Kotayk governor Romanos Petrosyan, Armavir governor Hambardzum Matevosyan, and Ararat governor Garik Sagsyan.