Hrachya Sargsyan Distributed Huge Bonuses to Himself and His Team Before Leaving: Isabella Abgaryan

Isabella Abgaryan, a member of the Yerevan City Council, is raising alarms about substantial bonuses being distributed within the city hall. According to her, during the period from January to the end of March 2023, bonuses amounting to 58 million, 175 thousand, 280 drams were issued by the Yerevan Municipality. The council member made a factual post on Facebook regarding the issue but received no response.

In an interview with Aysor.am, Abgaryan noted that not everyone at the city hall received bonuses. "Only the news block and senior specialists received bonuses among regular employees. Meanwhile, we constantly observe that the deputy mayors, who already have high salaries, are regularly awarded bonuses. For instance, Tigran Avinyan received a bonus, as did the heads of departments. When we significantly raised salaries, the justification was that the practice of bonus payments in addition to salaries would cease. However, it turns out that this is not the case; those in high positions are regularly receiving bonuses. This is an abnormal phenomenon," Abgaryan stated.

She highlighted that the most abnormal situation occurred in March of this year, during the departure of former mayor Hrachya Sargsyan. "Just before leaving that month, he received a bonus. Almost 40 million of the total 58 million was distributed that month. It was the month with the most lavish bonus allocations, and the highest amounts went to the secretariat. Heads of departments received about 20 million. I want to ask, for what reason did they receive this? Because we all know that we do not see any extraordinary successes or the results of hard work in Yerevan. When city hall employees overcame the waste collection crisis, I understood why legal department personnel received bonuses, as they indeed did significant work. But now, nothing like that is happening. And we see outrageous bonus figures, which have become normalized," she said.

She also added that bonuses are being given to acting heads of departments who are friends or relatives. "I see a highly unjust approach here. The council approves how much can be awarded in bonuses throughout the year, we establish a fund, yet the council has always emphasized that after salary increases, bonuses should only be given for significant achievements. Looking at that list, it is clear that they are mainly thinking about maintaining their friends whom they have brought into the system. The actions of Hrachya Sargsyan are a vivid example of this. My approach is that if he wanted to thank his friends, he should organize a treat from his pocket for the staff, rather than distributing such huge sums from the pockets of Yerevanians."

Isabella Abgaryan also emphasized that today the council is in an indifferent state and absolutely no one is interested in either the expenses for bonuses or the questionable expenditures in construction. "Markos Harutyunyan from the Prosperous Armenia faction gave an interview criticizing the work of the council, but at the same time, when it came to bonuses, he stated that recently a small bonus was given. In other words, he considers 58 million a small amount for the three months of this year," she remarked.