Authorities Determined to Fight Corruption: Aghajanyan on Loretsyan's Arrest

The head of the Prime Minister's Office, Edward Aghajanyan, addressed reporters today regarding the arrest of Gevorg Loretsyan, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, emphasizing that this once again proves the authorities' firm commitment to combating corruption.

"The government that has been fighting against corruption is still effectively addressing corruption and similar manifestations, evidenced by the criminal case initiated by the National Security Service (NSS)," he stated.

Aghajanyan expressed that he did not expect such news. "In general, any news related to representatives of the new government is unpleasant and surprising for us," he remarked. However, he noted that there is a presumption of innocence and called for caution, urging everyone to wait for the results of the investigation.

"We must acknowledge that whether they are former or current officials, this government's position is very clear: any illegality, irrespective of its author, is subject to all penalties prescribed by law," he said.

In response to whether this case indicates the potential for ongoing issues, Aghajanyan stated that nothing can be ruled out. "I believe what matters is not to exclude situations but to create a system that prevents or responds to such manifestations. Of course, it would have been much better if preventive measures and systems had existed and worked much earlier. However, we have inherited a system that operates based on a completely different logic, and thus we must note that currently, the system reacts quite reactively to such occurrences," he emphasized.

According to the head of the office, such incidents do not affect the government's rating. "Here, individuals do not matter; the system is important. Given that such manifestations are appearing and their authors are being held accountable, I believe this enhances our political team's rating," he concluded.

It is noteworthy that on December 4, the National Security Service arrested Gevorg Loretsyan on suspicion of receiving a particularly large bribe. According to the NSS's statement, in addition to Loretsyan, his driver and the president of one of the football clubs operating in Armenia, who is also the actual head of several supply companies, were apprehended.