Identified Those Using Excessive Fuel without Justification: ‘Haylur’

‘Haylur’ newspaper reports that during Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure, official service vehicles have become personal vehicles at the expense of the state. This is highlighted in the official responses to inquiries made by the newspaper.

Last week, ‘Haylur’ had written that many heads of parliamentary committees are consuming fuel far beyond the set limits, and the presidents do not clearly explain why.

Based on the responses to inquiries, information was provided regarding how much fuel was consumed by the service vehicles of Deputy Speakers of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan and Hakob Arshakyan, and how much additional fuel was allocated to them (from 01/09/2022 to 31/08/2023). It was clarified how the parliamentary officials justified and obtained the excess fuel beyond the established limit.

“It should also be noted that the need for additional fuel allocation has arisen due to several work meetings, sessions, and discussions that took place outside the parliament throughout the year,” was the response from the National Assembly.

The head of the media service of the National Assembly, Laura Antonyan, responded only with figures, failing to present the reason for the additional fuel demand by the officials. The inquiry was also directed to the Chief of Staff of the National Assembly, Davit Arakelyan, who should only allocate additional fuel from the NA’s resources if a reasonable explanation is provided by the officials.

They are concealing the real reasons behind the fuel expenses of the officials and do not check the validity of the additional fuel demand.

In discussions with various experts, the newspaper found out that the 3600 liters of fuel allocated annually to officials cannot be used entirely if the service vehicle is indeed used solely for official purposes, rather than for personal or family needs.

Following the activities of the deputy speakers of the NA, one can immediately say that they spend a significant portion of working days throughout the year on business trips abroad, of course at the state’s expense. This means that both Hakob Arshakyan and Ruben Rubinyan, who live in Davidashen and Shengavit respectively, must come to the National Assembly in Yerevan every day and return.

On the days of business trips, their drivers must take them to the airport and return, parking the vehicles until their leaders return to Armenia. It seems that this has not been the case. The service vehicles are used extravagantly. This is the reason why they have recorded using 3600 liters of fuel in one year, in accordance with the letter of the law, while in one case, they requested an additional 320 liters, and in another case, 220 liters.

It turns out that the opposition figure Nikol Pashinyan was not only protesting against “this governance,” but rather against who is at the helm of this “governance.