Serzh Sargsyan Does Not Receive Most of His Pension: 'Hraparak'

The newspaper 'Hraparak' reports that former president Serzh Sargsyan has not been receiving the full pension he is entitled to under the law for a significant period of time. According to our sources, the third president of Armenia is only able to utilize a negligible portion of his pension. The reason for this is the criminal case initiated against him and the freeze placed on his bank accounts.

It should be noted that former presidents are entitled to a special pension by law, which is calculated at 70% of the president's official salary. In response to our inquiry regarding whether Serzh Sargsyan's pension is being transferred, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs did not respond, citing the Law on Personal Data Protection. However, Sargsyan's office confirmed that a freeze has been imposed on the president's pension.

“A special pension is legally designated for the former president of the Republic, and the third president of the Republic of Armenia is allocated a pension within this framework. Due to the criminal case initiated against President Sargsyan, which is essentially a case of political persecution, a portion of his pension has been subject to a freeze under current legislative regulations,” Sargsyan's office responded.

It is recalled that the charges brought against Sargsyan are related to the alleged embezzlement of 489 million 160 thousand drams from state funds during his time in office. This case is more commonly known as the “salvage” case and is the only charge against Serzh Sargsyan.

We have also learned that the government is not allocating any funds for the operation of Serzh Sargsyan's office, even though it is legally mandated that former presidents should have an office. This information was also confirmed by Sargsyan's office. “Regarding the funding of the office of the third president of the Republic of Armenia, we inform you that the office of former President Serzh Sargsyan is funded by the state budget only for the salaries of the office staff (three permanent positions). The office does not receive any other funding from the state budget for its operations as determined by the decision of the government,” stated the office.

We also inquired about the fate of Serzh Sargsyan's housing issue, as former presidents are supposed to be provided housing by the state. We asked whether any payment had been made to him for housing or for purchasing one. It is noted that several housing offers were made to him in 2018-19, but he declined the proposed options, and thereafter, the state, according to our information, has made no further offers. “As for the provision of housing for the former third president in accordance with the law, we inform you that this matter has not yet been resolved. The head of the Prime Minister's Office had stated to the media back in 2018 that they 'did not find any state property that could match the standards provided to the previous two former presidents, which served as the benchmark for their search.' The head of the staff also indicated that, unable to find property meeting the specified criteria, they decided to purchase private property and provide it to President Sargsyan,” he added.

The full article can be found in the original source.