New Clash: The Waters of Two Structures Do Not Flow in One Stream

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that the waters of the Republic of Armenia's Prosecutor General's Office and the Anti-Corruption Committee do not flow in the same stream, and the contradictions have now moved into the public sphere. It would not be wrong to say that the Prosecutor's Office has declared war on the Anti-Corruption Committee.

The issue is that the Prosecutor's Office does not confirm the charges in criminal cases initiated against former officials and does not send them to court, but instead returns them to the investigator of the Anti-Corruption Committee with new instructions.

For instance:
1. The Prosecutor General's Office annulled the Anti-Corruption Commission's decision (currently the Anti-Corruption Committee) regarding the refusal to initiate a criminal case against MP Hayk Sargsyan, sending it back to the Anti-Corruption Committee for re-investigation, after which a criminal case was initiated.
2. In the case of former Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan, the Anti-Corruption Committee had declared the preliminary investigation completed and sent it to the Prosecutor General's Office for approval and forwarding to court. However, the Prosecutor's Office reported that the prosecutor did not confirm the criminal case and returned it.

Now it has reached the criminal case initiated against former Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan. The Prosecutor General's Office has returned Gasparyan’s case for additional investigation with appropriate instructions.

The Anti-Corruption Committee states: “We consider the prosecutor's decision illegal and unsubstantiated.” Meanwhile, the Prosecutor's Office is attempting to assert its position to the Committee: “The investigative body is obligated, in any case, to conduct an objective investigation.” This implies that a situation has arisen where even a subordinate body, in this case, the Committee, is assessing the actions of a supervisory or superior body. This is unprecedented and has profound causes, which we will address in the near future.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.