Ethics Commission for High Officials made another arbitrary decision: no disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against Taron Margaryan
10:46, December 15, 2016 | News, Own news
On November 15, 2016, HCA Vanadzor applied to the Ethics Commission for High Officials requiring to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Taron Margaryan, Mayor of Yerevan, for showing disrespect for Anahit Bakhshyan, member of the Council of Elders of Yerevan city at the Council of Elders session of October 26 by interrupting her speech with contempt and uttering offensive remarks on her.
Note that at the session, as Anahit Bakhshyan sought clarification on the permission of making a design on an area of 20 sq m by removing the lawns on Tigran Sargsyan Street in Davitashen community of Yerevan city and particularly why the construction permit qualified the area as flat and undeveloped, whereas the photos showed another state of the site, Taron Margaryan countered, “Yes, we were right to give the area and we’ll do so again and again. And I’ll stand for the families of all the perished military servicemen no matter how much envious efforts you take and how much you listen to those immoral people and say in the press the things they want you to say.” Then as A. Bakhshyan tried to respond to this, the Mayor again interrupted her by saying: “We don’t long for your voice. It’s enough you speak about the families of the perished servicemen for your PR purposes.”
Taron Margaryan’s behavior contradicts the requirements of Article 28 of the RA Law on Public Service, which, among other provisions, prescribes that public servants and high-ranking officials, no matter where they are or what they do, must show a behavior proper to their position and respectful attitude to every person they contact when exercising their powers.
While Article 44 of the said Law clearly defines the grounds for initiating proceedings by the Commission on violation of ethical rules upon a person’s application, at its own initiative or upon a high-ranking official’s application on verifying whether he/she has violated the rules of ethics, the Commission again interpreted the Law in an arbitrary way and by its decision of November 28, 2016 rejected HCA Vanadzor’s application stating that the Commission might not initiate any proceedings until it received an application from a specific person or group of persons on a particular incident by referring to another decision of the Commission.
Note that the Commission expressed the same position on HCA Vanadzor’s application on initiating disciplinary proceedings against Chief of RA Police Vladimir Gasparyan for insulting journalist Siranuysh Papyan.