“Where were the funds sent? How were they spent?” Artur Sakunts on the activities of ‘Martik’ foundation
20:02, May 8, 2016 | News, Other news | Armed Forces‘Medialab.am’ had an interview with human rights defender Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, on the situation regarding ‘Martik’ Foundation.
– Mr. Sakunts, after the four-day war as there was much talk about the funding allocated to the army, and Artur Aghabekyan, Deputy Prime Minister of NKR, called for assistance to Artsakh, the public raised questions about the funds of ‘Martik’ Foundation set up for the army and military servicemen. Artur Aghabekyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, clarified that at the moment the assets of the foundation set up in 2002 made 1 million USD. Why don’t that funds serve their purpose?
– First, it should be mentioned that Artur Aghabekyan, one of the founders of the Foundation, provided information about the available Foundation assets only after being reminded of the Foundation once again and after it was noted that it was impossible to obtain any information about the assets of the Foundation.
By the way, it should be noted that such information was impossible to obtain not only form the Ministry of Justice, to which the Foundation should have submitted copies of relevant documents on its incomes and expenses, but also through any media. This means that in this heated situation, Artur Aghabekyan decided to make public the information only after a relevant issue was raised. Artur Aghabekyan mentioned about 1 million USD available at the Foundation, but it is merely a statement: we cannot know whether there is 1 million USD or 2 million USD; since they have not made any statements until now and today they state that there is at least 1 million USD without presenting any official document on incomes and expenses, such information does not seem plausible.
Moreover, if today there Foundation assets make 1 million USD, how much funds there were in the past years and how were they spent? This question especially arises in the context as we recall that many military servicemen had health problems and relevant funds were not allocated from the state budget.
Such funds might have been allocated from the Foundation, and we have had no evidence so far that a single penny was allocated at least to solve the health problems of servicemen.
Well, if we suppose that funds were allocated, to whom were they allocated? In other words, the problem lies in the accountability of the activities of the Foundations.
Artur Aghabekyan did not answer the question below; the Foundation was set up at the initiative of Serzh Sargsyan, former Minister of Defense, and Artur Aghabekyan. And Artur Aghabekyan was the Deputy Defense Minister then.
How were the Foundation assets raised? From what funds were they raised? From what sources were they raised? Once, we had some information that such funds were raised on a voluntary compulsory basis. Naturally, if the founder of the Foundation was the Defense Minister, how could officers not make payments to the Foundation? That is to say, the abuse of power obviously played its role here. Furthermore, this is indicative of growing corruption risks not only in terms of spending the Foundation assets but also in terms of raising them.
Also, a question arises as to the purpose of the assets spent from the Foundation throughout its entire operation. We applied to a court of law to get information; we also expected information from the Ministry of Justice since the Ministry received accountability information from foundations.
Nevertheless, no inquiry was submitted to ‘Martik’ Foundation concerning its incomes and expenses. We applied to courts, and they dismissed our application, too. That is to say, not only the Ministry of Justice rejected our application, but also the judiciary did; we went as far as to apply to the Cassation Court. So, nowadays they are forced by the current situation to disclose some figures, and we cannot consider this sufficient.
We demand a thorough report on the incomes of the Foundation throughout its operation as well as the means and mechanisms used for fundraising and the purposeful use of the funds. I can assume that throughout its operation the Foundation raised at least 10 million USD. I can assume so, but we are entitled to know where such funds were sent and how they were spent. These are the issues that Artur Aghabekyan should report on to have a moral right to urge people to raise funds for the army.
– That is to say, today as funds are raised for the army, should the assets of the Foundation be spent? Artur Aghabekyan also stated that the capital amount of the Foundation should be spent by decree of the President, the Catholicos and the Defense Minister.
– Pardon me, I have a question to ask: are there any funds at all? In fact, such funds are made up of the compulsory payments collected from servicemen, but I’m not sure that such funds are still there. Such funds should have been allocated immediately to solve the health problems of more than hundred wounded serviceman. While instead, such funds are allocated from the state budget. But servicemen once made payments to the Foundation just for such purposes, didn’t they?
– Cannot they also use the assets of the Foundation to purchase weapons for the army?
– The Charter does not provide for this; such assets are intended for the resolution of educational, health and social issues of servicemen.
– That is to say, the activities of the Foundation carry obvious risks of corruption?
– That’s obvious. As long as there is no accountability and information on the fundraising sources and mechanisms and on the size and purposeful spending of the funds, the strong suspicion of corruption risks remains on the agenda. They will not be able to dispel that suspicion as long as they provide no information to the public. Moreover, they cannot dispel the concerns about potential corruption risks in regard to the funds raised currently.
When the human rights organizations, including us, once raised issues of human rights and healthcare problems in the armed forces, some persons from the political and social circles accused us of defaming the army, grant-eating, attempting to make color revolutions and acting against the state interests.
And now the persons who expressed such views, should focus their attention on the foundations carrying similar corruption risks and on the actions of the officials involved therein and have the courage to express a view on who appropriates the defense funds. Otherwise, we’ll have to assume that these critics either applied such corrupt mechanisms or were somehow associated with them.