Vagharshapat Mayor Signs 13.6 Million Dram Contract with Father-in-law

The Mayor of Vagharshapat, Diana Gasparyan, has signed a contract worth 13.6 million drams with her father-in-law, individual entrepreneur Ashot Mirzoyan, for the procurement of compressed natural gas. The contract was signed on January 27.

Previously, her in-laws had been at the center of a scandal involving illegal construction activities in Vagharshapat. Simultaneously, there are significant discrepancies in the income and declared financial means of Diana Gasparyan's husband, Aramayis Mirzoyan, as reported in their income declarations.

According to the contract, refueling for the Vagharshapat Municipality will be carried out at Ashot Mirzoyan's gas station, which he established in 2020 at the address of Ejmiatsin-Artimet highway 1. The necessary permits for the gas station were obtained from the future daughter-in-law, Diana Gasparyan, while she was already serving as the Mayor of Vagharshapat.

The procurement of compressed gas was conducted through an electronic auction. According to the Gnumner.am platform, in addition to Ashot Mirzoyan's individual enterprise, companies “Li Gaz” and “Tnkaran” also participated in the bidding. The lowest bid was submitted by Gasparyan's father-in-law, which was 133 thousand drams lower than the offer from “Tnkaran,” resulting in the contract being awarded to Mirzoyan.

Armenia’s Law on Public Service stipulates that if a public official's actions within their authority could lead to a conflict of interest, they are obliged to submit a written declaration of the conflict to their superiors. Since mayors do not have a superior body, they are required to report such circumstances to the Anti-Corruption Commission. Until then, the official must refrain from making decisions on the matter.

The Commission informed the media that they had not received any declaration or application regarding conflict of interest from the Mayor of Vagharshapat. However, Diana Gasparyan did not refrain from taking action and signed the relevant contract with Ashot Mirzoyan.

In response to a written inquiry from the media, Diana Gasparyan ensured that the Vagharshapat Municipality's procurement committee had conducted the purchase electronically, thus she personally did not see or identify any participants.

Regarding the existence of a conflict of interest, the Mayor of Vagharshapat stated that she plans to revise the internal control mechanisms to avoid similar situations in the future.

Even if the Anti-Corruption Commission finds that there was a conflict of interest during the transaction, Armenian legislation does not provide for the annulment of the contract, nor for significant fines. The Commission can only initiate proceedings and impose a fine of up to 300,000 drams on the official.

For further details, refer to the original source.