The Official Who Spent The Most on Business Trips is Armen Sarkissian: 123 Million Drams

The official who has spent the most on business trips is the President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, with approximately 123 million drams. This was reported by ‘Factinfo’.

‘Factinfo’ sought to determine how many business trips Constitutional Court President Hrayr Tovmasyan and other high-ranking officials have taken. It turns out that the Constitutional Court President has had the fewest business trips; in 2019, he traveled twice, first to Saint Petersburg and then to Latvia in November 2019.

In second place is Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, who made 6 business trips in 2019, costing a total of more than 5 million drams. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ranks third. According to official data, he traveled abroad 18 times, and for his overnight allowances alone, 12 million 306 thousand drams were spent.

Compared to Pashinyan, more trips were made by the Speaker of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan and Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, both of whom traveled 23 times. Grigoryan’s business trips cost approximately 9 million 907 thousand drams, of which over 6 million 600 thousand was for participating in EEU and CIS meetings. Mirzoyan's travel expenses, including daily allowances, airfare, and hotel services, exceeded 13 million drams.

‘Factinfo’ also submitted a written inquiry to the President’s Office to clarify how many business trips he has taken and how much money was spent. In response to our inquiry, a specific number regarding the President’s trips was not provided; however, it was noted that some trips were financed personally. Nevertheless, the state budget allocated 123 million 30 thousand drams, which was fully spent.