Argishti Karamyan to be appointed head of the newly established Anti-Corruption Committee

Today, during the permanent session of the National Assembly's State and Legal Affairs Committee, the package of drafts on the law regarding the "Anti-Corruption Committee" will be discussed. The 2019 anti-corruption strategy determined the necessity to create a single anti-corruption body, leading to the reduction of positions investigating corruption crimes in all other bodies including the National Security Service, the Special Investigative Service, the Investigative Committee, and the State Revenue Committee, with those responsibilities transferred to the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Several interesting facts from the draft include that the number of staff members at the center will be approximately 150, including at least 30 investigators and 60 operatives. To establish the Anti-Corruption Center, the government allocated 8 billion 203 million AMD yesterday, intended to be spent from 2021 to 2023. Of this amount, about 5.1 billion will be dedicated to salaries, utilities, and office expenses, more than 5 billion for building conditions, 285.5 million for technical equipment, and 192 million AMD for transportation equipment.

The approximate salary for the committee's employees will be around 650,000 AMD without taxes, while the chairperson's salary is expected to be about 700,000. For comparison, currently, an investigator dealing with anti-corruption cases at the NSS earns less than 300,000 AMD after taxes, which creates an unequal competitive environment among the investigators.

According to "Zhoghovurd" newspaper, the newly established investigative body will be headed by 28-year-old Argishti Karamyan, who was unexpectedly relieved of his duties as head of the NSS and is now the Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee.