Funds in Armenia Are Embezzled Not Through Individual Purchases but Through Rigged Tenders - Babken Tunyan

The increase in purchases from a single individual is a few percentage points, which is not significant, said Babken Tunyan, a member of the 'My Step' faction, in the National Assembly.

He requested Deputy Minister of Finance Avag Avanesyan to present clear statistics on whether purchases from a single individual have increased and what the reasons for this may be. According to the MP, it was revealed that the growth in individual purchases is just a few percentage points.

“The main component of that increase consists of services that can only be obtained from a single source. This means electricity, healthcare services, and so on. When we say purchases from a single individual and claim that it indicates corruption, it is no secret that in Armenia, budgetary resources have been embezzled not through individual purchases, but rather through rigged tenders. We know how those competitions are organized, what mechanisms of fraud have operated as a result of those competitions, and how those competitions have been tailored to the advantage of specific companies,” noted the MP.