Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Prime Minister T. Sargsyan: Offenders To Bear Personal Responsibility
Good afternoon, dear colleagues. Before proceeding to the agenda, I would like to inform you that during our last meeting, which focused on healthcare issues, clear instructions were given to the Minister of Healthcare and the State Revenue Committee Chairman. As a follow-up, we will hold a consultative meeting tomorrow to summarize the findings of our recent surveys.
Secondly, as you mat remember, an instruction was issued for the Prime Minister’s Control Service, the Minister of Urban Development and the Ministry of Finance to continue with the checks in the field of effective use of State budget funds. Unfortunately, ever new facts of mismanagement are being exposed, and what we can see is rather disappointing.
You know that last week I was in Shirak Marz. Specifically, AMD270mn had been earmarked from the State budget for school building purposes in the village of Mets Mantash. According to preliminary data, some 200 million drams have been pulverized as of this point of time. Moreover, the school has a third-degree seismic vulnerability, which means that the treasury allocations have simply missed the target.
A similar situation is faced at school N5 of Masis. Bearing in mind the situation with the National Library, I am now stating with deep regret that public funds have also been pulverized in the field of school building, which is one of our chief priorities. The Minister reported that the case has already been handed over to the Office of Prosecutor General. We will closely follow the developments to ensure that all the offenders are punished. Any new offences will be handed over to the Prosecutor General.
Thirdly, shortcomings and failures are exposed in the annual reports of the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance. To date, we have not gone beyond administrative sanctions and requests for refunds. From now on, it will not be the case and all those responsible will bear personal responsibility.
Dear colleagues, I am asking you to get acquainted with the materials and warn your chiefs of staff and the heads of department that anyone responsible for misuse and waste of State budget funds will henceforth be held accountable.
