Request for NSS to Monitor Arman Babajanyan's Conduct Towards the RA Audit Chamber

The President of the RA Audit Chamber, Levon Yolyan, has issued a statement in which he stated: "Guided by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and the RA Law on the Audit Chamber, based on the principles of objectivity, political neutrality, publicity, and transparency specified for the Audit Chamber, I declare that the RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan, during his speech on June 25, 2020, at the plenary session of the RA National Assembly discussing the 2019 annual report of the Audit Chamber, voiced assessments and expressions regarding the Audit Chamber and its President that do not correspond to reality and are unworthy of a Deputy. Thus, Deputy Arman Babajanyan, in exercising his parliamentary powers, has not demonstrated respectful treatment towards the RA Audit Chamber and its President while using the authority of a deputy for his own benefit or that of others, violating Article 3 of the Law on Guarantees of the Activities of the Deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, which establishes the rules of ethics for deputies. The RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan, violating the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence, has accused the RA Audit Chamber and its leadership of committing a crime, based on false statements made by former Audit Chamber employee Aramais Sargsyan in the press.

Regarding the statements made by former Audit Chamber employee Aramais Sargsyan on May 8, 2020, in the media outlet www.1in.am, the RA Audit Chamber officially contacted the media company on May 12, 2020, asking for the legally mandated publication of the denial by the Audit Chamber concerning the expressions uttered by Aramais Sargsyan, which has not been provided by the media outlet belonging to Deputy Arman Babajanyan until now. In response to the statements made by Aramais Sargsyan on May 8, 2020, the Audit Chamber published its denial, urging him to cease his defamatory behavior. The denial can be found on the official website of the Audit Chamber through the following link.

It has become known that on June 26, 2020, RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan submitted a report of a crime to the RA Special Investigative Service, wherein he reproduced his unfounded accusations addressed to the Audit Chamber on June 25, 2020. Specifically, the mentioned Deputy acknowledges that although the Audit Chamber's studies are valuable, he accuses the Audit Chamber of not sending the results of its studies conducted in various fields directly and immediately to the Prosecutor General's Office. Meanwhile, for three years, both the Audit Chamber and the Prosecutor General's Office have publicly, including from the podium of the RA National Assembly, talked about effective cooperation with each other on that and similar materials, about criminal cases that have already been initiated and their progress, particularly noting that there is a clear working agreement and understanding between the two separate state bodies on how to work with the further criminal justice nature of audit materials, certainly guided by the condition that audit materials must be fully disclosed, which the Audit Chamber reliably does, as this is sufficient for the prosecutorial bodies to follow all the publications of the Chamber and, if necessary, provide a legal assessment in relation to this or that material.

Moreover, the audit and prosecutorial bodies have publicly pointed out and continue to point out that no audit result escapes the framework of deserving legal assessment since all necessary materials and clarifications are provided by auditors operationally. Yes, there are cases when the Audit Chamber itself sends the materials when it sees apparent signs of a crime within them. However, mainly law enforcement bodies, having preliminary possession of operationally significant information regarding the given subject of the audit, find it appropriate to demand necessary documents from the audit and, after performing preliminary investigative actions and preparing relevant materials, decide to initiate criminal cases.

The RA Audit Chamber has officially informed Deputy Arman Babajanyan that on the basis of the results of the public study of the Audit Chamber, law enforcement bodies have subsequently carried out investigative, operational and other specialized actions, only as a result of which it has been concluded that there is a need to initiate criminal cases. RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan does not fully understand the legal and professional differences between external state audit (external state control) and investigative and prosecutorial functions established by Armenian legislation, as well as the scope of responsibilities and obligations stipulated by law for all accountability officers, especially considering perhaps the most crucial principle of the audit—making audit materials public.

In this sense, it is absurd how Deputy Arman Babajanyan, who is the owner of a 'well-known' media outlet and is aware of all the Chamber's studies, suddenly decides to disparage the Chamber right when the RA Audit Chamber is publishing about violations amounting to billions of drams from the podium of the National Assembly.

I urge RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan to cease his unfounded and false statements and assessments directed at the RA Audit Chamber. Since the establishment of the RA Audit Chamber, Deputy Arman Babajanyan has regularly pursued the Audit Chamber and its President with his statements and assessments that do not correspond to reality and are false, which gives grounds to assume that Deputy Arman Babajanyan is either confused or acts with undisclosed interests.

I announce my full readiness to continue cooperation with both the RA Special Investigative Service and other state bodies, creating all possible conditions for dispelling the assessments and suspicions raised by Deputy Arman Babajanyan that undermine the reputation of the RA Audit Chamber. At the same time, considering the role and significance of the RA Audit Chamber for the statehood of the Republic of Armenia, I request that the National Security Service monitor the conduct of Deputy Arman Babajanyan towards the RA Audit Chamber, especially given the circumstances of violations uncovered in various areas of the audit and the potential interconnectedness involved with them.

Considering the above, as well as the damage caused to the reputation of the RA Audit Chamber, I appeal to the National Assembly to initiate the process of creating a temporary committee on the ethical conduct of RA National Assembly Deputy Arman Babajanyan.