Corruption Prevention Commission Fines Suren Papikyan

The Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC) has fined Defense Minister and former head of the Civil Contract party Suren Papikyan for conducting cash transactions amounting to approximately 11 million drams from the financial resources of the Civil Contract party in 2022. Civilnet reports.

The audit revealed significant violations in the financial report of the Civil Contract for 2022. One of these violations concerned transactions amounting to about 11.4 million drams, which were conducted in cash, whereas the law concerning political parties stipulates that all transactions of a party must be non-cash.

Due to this and several other substantial violations, the annual audit of the party’s report received a negative conclusion. The CPC appealed to the Civil Contract for all bank statement extracts, which were provided.

Additionally, within the framework of the initiated proceedings, Suren Papikyan was summoned to discuss the offense of not conducting monetary payments non-cash, to which he did not participate.

According to the CPC, the 11.4 million drams from the Civil Contract was cashed through ATMs, and the inspection of the party's extracts did not provide evidence that the cashed funds were subsequently re-deposited into the CPC accounts. The CPC's relevant decision also indicates that the commission has been unable to determine where the cashed 11.4 million drams from the CPC's funds were ultimately directed, for what purposes that money was used, and/or what goods were purchased with it.

The CPC deemed it significant that such a legal violation was discovered after their referral, and a notice was sent to the participant in the proceedings for the first time. Considering that Suren Papikyan was the head of the CPC in 2022, the CPC imposed a fine of 100,000 drams on him.

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