On 20 June, students of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders hosted Ms Ani Samsonyan, member of “Bright Armenia” Faction of the National Assembly of the RAs.
Notably, The MP had completed the second stream of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association in 2015.
Issues related to the division of business and politics, the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials of Armenia and the anticorruption commission that would be established soon were discussed.
Ani Samsonyan is convinced that business and politics should be completely separate. According to the MP, the entrepreneur-official cannot be impartial and unbiased when making his decisions, voting, as well as submitting legislative drafts.
“Article 95 of the Constitution limits that, for example, a deputy may not hold any position, not related to his or her status, within state or local self-government bodies, or any position within commercial organisations, engage in entrepreneurial activities or perform other paid work, except for scientific, educational and creative work. There are also such regulations in the Law on Public Service. Everyone should follow this regulation. In the NA, the prime minister and the post of the president should not be people who are involved in business, as it one of the principles of ensuring free competition,” the MP noted.
Speaking about the model of the anti-corruption institutional body, the MP noted that she was for the creation of a universal independent anti-corruption body.
“An independent anti-corruption body is also under public control. As a constitutional independent body, it would be accountable only to the National Assembly, which will oversee the activities of the body. In my opinion, its creation would be more effective at this stage of the anti-corruption struggle,” the MP noted.
“The Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO is organizing the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders in cooperation with the Armenian CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition.
Iravaban.net independent information website is the information partner of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders.
