Mesrop Manukyan on the Waste of Yerevan’s Budget, Suspicious Procurement, and Systemic Corruption

Mesrop Manukyan addressed Yerevan’s budget expenditures, public procurement, urban development projects, and the fight against corruption during Satik Seyranyan’s program, presenting specific figures which, in his assessment, raise questions about the effective use of public funds.

One of the figures presented by Manukyan concerns equipment intended for patrol cars. According to him, 756 million drams was spent on purchasing the equipment in 2022, but 125 systems were not installed, and their value amounted to around 210 million drams. Manukyan raised the question of why equipment purchased with public funds had remained in storage and who was responsible for its non-use.

He also addressed prices in public procurement, citing as an example a badge whose price, he claimed, had risen from 55 drams to 1,700 drams. Manukyan also questioned the terms under which thermoses were purchased. To assess these cases, it is necessary to compare the contracts, the technical specifications of the goods, and the supply documents.

In the context of municipal expenditures, Manukyan stated that 4.9 billion drams had been allocated for greening, while, according to the figures he presented, only 5,000 trees had been planted. He contrasted these figures with the earlier promise to plant 10 million trees. The main report required from the municipality concerns not only the number of trees planted, but also the full structure of expenditures, the companies carrying out the work, and the results of the work performed.

The interview also addressed the financing of major events. The questions raised by Manukyan concern the costs of organizing COP17, as well as the financial aspects of the Snoop Dogg and Jennifer Lopez concerts. In connection with Jennifer Lopez’s concert, according to published information, the state is demanding that the company “Doping Space” return approximately 534 million drams under a previous program. At the same time, contracts worth around 3.5 billion drams have been signed with the same company for organizing COP17. This raises a question regarding the decisions of the ministry headed by Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan: how was the risk of the new contracts assessed when the dispute surrounding the previous financing has not yet been resolved?

Manukyan also spoke about the closure of around 450 criminal cases of a corruption-related nature, demanding that information about them be made public. This figure is a claim made by him, and a full assessment requires official data from law enforcement bodies regarding the number of cases, the grounds for their closure, and their legal classification.

Among urban development projects, Manukyan singled out the issue of construction in the Cascade area, drawing attention to the relationship between the use of public spaces and private investment interests. Published documents concerning the project mention specific plots of land and investment companies; therefore, the key questions for public oversight are: under what conditions was the investor selected, what obligations did it undertake, and how will the public interest and green spaces be protected?