200 Thousand Dram Fine Imposed on Ararat Zharabyan

The Ethics Commission for High-Ranking Officials has imposed an administrative penalty of 200,000 drams on former National Assembly member Ararat Zharabyan on July 23, according to hetq.am.

The former deputy had failed to submit the declaration of property, income, and related persons that was required as of the date his official duties ceased in 2019 to the Ethics Commission. This led to the Commission initiating proceedings against him, and on May 30, they had issued an administrative penalty in the form of a warning.

After Zharabyan was deemed to have received that decision, he did not submit the required declaration within the stipulated 30-day period. Consequently, the Commission applied an administrative penalty in the form of a fine.

Ararat Zharabyan was elected as a member of the National Assembly on April 2, 2017, as part of the electoral list of the “Tsarukyan” party alliance.

It is noted that imposing an administrative penalty does not exempt the individual from fulfilling their obligation that led to the penalty. During the administrative violation proceedings, the Ethics Commission will send the materials to the Prosecutor General's Office if it determines that the declaration was willfully not submitted, with an immediate decision to suspend the proceedings but no later than within three days.

The Prosecutor General's Office is obliged to inform the Ethics Commission about the results of their review, attaching a copy of the relevant decision. Upon receipt of a decision to dismiss, suspend the case, halt criminal prosecution, or not initiate criminal prosecution, the Ethics Commission will resume the suspended proceedings within five days, while in the case of receiving a final conviction decision, the Commission will terminate the proceedings within the same timeframe.