What Do Alen Simonyan and His Wife's Declared Vacation Expenses Hint At

In September of last year, the vacation expenses of the National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan, his wife, and the pro-government MPs Hratchya Hakobyan (the Prime Minister's brother-in-law) and Eduard Aghajanyan on the Greek island of Mykonos became a topic of discussion even in the National Assembly. When opposition MP Aregnaz Manukyan asked how much Simonyan spent on the Greek island, noting that, according to some reports, the head of a betting office had financed their expenses (referring to Vigen Badalyan, co-founder of "Vivaro"), the NA speaker replied, "I do not comment on my personal life, lies, and yellow press."

Eight months later, in May 2022, Alen Simonyan presented his annual declaration for 2021, in which he stated that he spent 3,100 euros on vacation the previous year, while his wife, Mariam Margaryan, declared an expense of 1,700 euros during the same period. This was reported by "Hetq."

The Law on Public Service mandates that declarants submit their vacation expenses, including travel costs (plane, train, bus, boat tickets) and accommodation expenses. However, this obligation applies only when a single expenditure exceeds 2 million drams (or its equivalent currency), or when the total of similar expenses exceeds 3 million drams (or its equivalent currency). Thus, if a declarant spends more than 2 million drams on a single vacation, they are obliged to declare that amount, or if they traveled several times during the reporting period and spent more than 3 million drams in total, they must again declare the amount.

Alen Simonyan and his wife vacationed in Mykonos in September 2021. Considering that both at that time and when submitting the declarations (in May 2022), the exchange rate was such that the amounts stated by the NA speaker and his wife (3,100 and 1,700 euros) did not exceed the legal minimum threshold of 2 million drams, it must be said that they could have chosen not to declare those amounts. Nevertheless, since the amounts were declared, we shall take advantage of this fact.

It should be emphasized that Hratchya Hakobyan did not declare any vacation expenses for 2021 (his expenses related to loan repayments exceed the legal threshold of 3 million drams), while Eduard Aghajanyan did not declare any expenses at all.

It is difficult to say whether the members of the ruling party failed to declare their vacation expenses (Hratchya Hakobyan has a history of submitting incomplete declarations) or if they simply did not exceed the minimum threshold of 2 million drams, which provided officials with an opportunity to not disclose any sums.

Last year, we reported that on September 5, 2021, a business class plane arrived from Mykonos to Yerevan, which had among its passengers the co-founder of "Vivaro," Mariam Margaryan, Hratchya Hakobyan, and Eduard Aghajanyan. When we asked the NA speaker whether his wife and party associates arrived in Yerevan not on a regular flight but on a business class aircraft, Simonyan stated that he does not comment on information regarding his and others' private lives, meaning he did not deny it.

Neither Hakobyan nor Aghajanyan responded to written inquiries from the media, thereby violating the Law on Freedom of Information. In other words, they also did not refute or dispel the existing doubts. It should be noted that the plane that arrived from Mykonos to Yerevan was a business class "Bombardier Challenger 850" registered in Malta (the Badalyan brothers, owners of "Vivaro," are Maltese citizens), and using its services is quite an expensive pleasure; one could say it's an aerotaxi service for businessmen and wealthy individuals, and renting such an aircraft is not comparable to buying a business class ticket from regular airline companies.

In essence, the following picture emerges: the NA speaker, his wife, and government MPs enjoyed themselves on the Greek island with a well-known businessman, and officials have not denied that, apart from Simonyan (who left Mykonos for Vienna for official meetings), the others arrived in Yerevan together on the businessman’s chartered airplane. Criticism has been voiced that it was the businessman who covered the officials' entertainment expenses, which has also not been denied.

Why is this important? For a simple reason: the Law on Public Service prohibits individuals holding public office, including MPs, from accepting gifts. According to the law, the concept of