A parliamentary investigative committee has been established by force of law to examine the use of funds collected by the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund and transferred to the state budget of the Republic of Armenia. This was announced today, 26 October, during the regular session of the National Assembly by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Hagop Arshakyan, who noted that the draft law regarding the number of members of the investigative committee is now to be discussed.
“I have connections in the Diaspora, and my friends have been expressing concern for months that a deliberate policy is being pursued to discredit this fund, and distrust is being sown, that it is not worth transferring money to the fund because it is being abused,” declared Vigen Khachatryan, a deputy of the “Civil Contract” faction, in his speech, and added: “This I consider villainy.”
According to him, it is the opposition’s job to put the authorities under a magnifying glass and to find and point out shortcomings: “This I welcome; it is one of the opposition’s most useful missions, but to mix the wet with the dry…”
“It is no less villainy when an official delegation is abroad and contempt is displayed there toward that state’s delegation by organizing, pardon the word, disturbances, whereas one could request a meeting and present demands,” added Vigen Khachatryan.
The deputy also noted that the committee is not the opposition’s monopoly: “We all participate, we will be convinced, if there are mistakes we will call to account, if we find no mistakes we will understand that villainy cannot be committed. So when speaking of villainy, be a little careful.”
